


Some invisible string (tying you to me)

by paupaupi



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Andy x Quynh, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Found Family, Getting Together, Immortal Wives, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, andromaquynh, oblivious in love, otp, true love in all the universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:49:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 26,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26925394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paupaupi/pseuds/paupaupi
Summary: AU: It takes some time for Quynh to realize that the mysterious woman she likes is Andy, the new work partner of her friends Joe and Nile.And then, they become roommates.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Quynh | Noriko, Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko
Comments: 105
Kudos: 84





	1. Chapter 1

Quynh is in love.

Wait, no, that is a little exaggerated and pretentious. She can’t be in love with someone who she doesn’t know. She is just amazed. This mysterious woman has been coming to her coffee & book shop since last month, and from the first time she saw her she couldn’t stop thinking about her. 

The woman has dark short hair, green eyes and strong arms. She’s so beautiful and hot without even trying. She’s always wearing simple and plain clothes, but somehow they fit her perfect in all the right places. She’s always reading books in different languages and always asks for the most ridiculous combinations of food with her coffee. And she never gives her name for her orders, she just says “A”. 

Quynh really wants to ask her what’s her name, but everytime she looks at her and find her expressive green eyes saying something like “you better not ask because i don’t give a fuck about being rude”, so she doesn’t. 

“Are you thinking about your mysterious woman again?” Asks Booker. 

“What?” Quynh is really surprised. Can he read her mind? “No, of course no.” She lies.

“Quynh” He calls her name in a kinda warning tone.

Sometimes it is annoying to have someone who knows her that well. Booker is like a brother to Quynh, they’ve been best friends since they’ve met studying History in NYU. When they graduated they decided to put this Coffee & Book shop together. She deals with the coffee and the vietnamita food menu part and he deals with the books. Now she’s doing a master in oriental culture and he’s doing a master in history of literature. It’s crazy to think they already shared so many important moments together.

“Fine, so what if i am?” She challenges him.

“Well, then maybe do something about it, she’s here.” He challenges back.

And he is right. “A” is there. It surprises her because she is never this early in the morning, but guess there is always a first time for everything.

“Good morning” Quynh greets her with a smile. 

“Hi” A just says.

“What do you want to order?” She asks politely. 

“A Black coffee” A answers without even thinking. “Do you have any dessert?” She asks, like she doesn’t have the energy to read the menu of the day even if it's just starting. 

“We have keo lac and bahn cam today” Quynh informs. She would be surprised if anyone would ask her for desserts this early, but knowing the mysterious woman and her sweet tooths she’s not surprised at all.

“Keo lac it is then, i really loved the one i tried last week” A says with a little smile, like she was remembering the taste of the desert. 

Before Quynh can say anything else, A is already moving to get to a table. 

“Your name?” Quynh calls her back.

“Just A” The mysterious woman answers without even turning back and sits at her favorite table.

Quynh smiles, this woman and her mysterious attitude is annoying sometimes. But she likes it. She’s hot and it fits her. 

Quynh prepares her order and Booker gives her the book she asked for this time. She looks at it, another strange language to her eyes. She wonders how the woman knows so many languages, is she studying or working in something relatable about it?

She calls for “A” and the woman comes to the counter to take her order. 

“What language is this?” Quynh asks her as she gives her the book.

“Russian” A answers her.

“Is it interesting?” Quynh keeps asking, because she wants to know more, she wants to hear the other woman keep talking because she likes her voice. 

“I don’t know yet, maybe i’ll tell you once i finish it” A says and then goes to her table.

A is definitely a woman of few words, and she likes trying to make her talk. Quynh smiles because this time, at least, she has answered her questions. She never imagined A as a morning person, but maybe she is. 

A leaves the shop at nine o’clock. 

Quynh’s day continues normally, like any other day. She wonders when she’s gonna see A next, but tries not to let that thought consume all her energies. 

Perhaps it is time for her to start dating again. That’s what Joe and Nile had been saying to her for months. Quynh likes dating, flirting and having fun. But lately she hasn't been in the mood for it. She’s tired. She just wants to find a forever love kinda relationship, like Joe and Nicky have. But she doesn’t look for it, she just wants it to happen without having to make efforts and put her energy on it. She had done the searching and the efforts before and it hasn't worked. So now, she just wants it to let it be.

She came to the USA to study, yes. But she chose a country very far from her native one, because she wanted to live her sexualliy in a free way. And she had. Now she wants love, but she doesn’t want to look for it. Ironic, isn’t it? 

At dinner time Quynh meets with her friends. Every thursday night they have dinners together. This time is Nicky’s time to cook, so she’s expecting to have a great pasta. 

Nicky doesn't disappoint. He makes lasagna and Quynh could almost kiss him for it because that is her favorite pasta dish.

“We have a new partner at work” Joe tells them as they eat and drink some french wine Booker had chosen.

“She’s a woman and her name is Andy” Nile adds with a smile, she always likes it when another woman joins the firefighters like her.

“And she’s very badass and brave” Joe informes them, making Nile laugh with his choice of words.

“How can you know that from one day?” Booker asks curiously. 

“Because she had a very strong fight with Merrick” Joe answers.

“She did?” Quynh asks, surprised, for what she knows all the squad is scared of Captain Merrick. 

“Yes, it was awesome” Joe says with a big smile, like he is remembering the moment.

“I can see she already won your respect, you are very easy my love” Nicky says, kinda joking. 

“Well, Merrick didn’t want to do a job because it was asked by a group of trans women. Andy fought him and did it anyway. So, yes, she won our respect” Nile explains the situation to them.

“Yes, that definitely deserves respect” Quynh agrees.

“And you should see her arms, I'm sure she’s gonna be very sexy with an axe” Joe adds playfully.

“I think she has enough arms with her mysterious coffee woman” Booker Jokes, making everyone laugh.

She hates when they all plot against her, but she laughs anyway because it is true. Her mysterious coffee woman has great arms. And she likes her. She doesn’t know her, but she likes her. Crazy. 

Maybe she will keep trying to get her to talk the next time she sees her.


	2. Chapter 2

“Where are you from?”

That’s a question most people like to ask her, and Andy still doesn’t know how to answer. 

She never had figured out what to say, because she feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere. So, what should she say? Planet Earth?

But then, when and if she wants to be practical she just would say Ukraine, because that’s where she was borned. 

“Are you sure you want to go to New York?” Nicole, one of her foster sisters, asks her. “You can do a master in multiple languages here, Chicago has lots of universities” She tries to negotiate with her.

“But NYU gave me a full scholarship, i think is a chance i have to take” Andy says as she keeps doing her luggage. 

That’s another thing about her, she loves learning and speaking different languages. Maybe that’s because she had been doing it since the beginning of her life, so it comes easy and naturally to her.

Her mother was greek and her father was italian. So, she speaks greek, italian, ukrainan and russian, because apparently her parents took her to a russian Kindergarten when they lived in Ukraine. 

When she was six years old her family moved to South Africa. So she learns afrikáans, english and french in elementary school. Her mother loves to hear her talk in different languages. They lived on a farm and Andy was happy there, she loved nature and animals. 

They used to spend Pascuas in Italy, Christmas in Greece and New Year in Moscow. Her mother’s favorite city in the world was Moscow. And in summer vacations they would travel around the countries of East Europe. 

But it wasn’t all good. Her father started drinking a lot and became violent. When she was ten years old there was a big fight between her parents, which ended with her fighting his father so he wouldn’t shoot her mother. They struggled to get the gun, but it ended with him getting shot. And he died… She stills carries the quilt about it. 

After that, her mother thought they needed a new beginning, so they moved out again. This time to the USA. It was okay, they could’ve been happy, Andy is almost sure about it… but her mother died one year later in a fire. Sometimes she wishes she would have died too.

Everything went bad after that. She didn’t fit well in the foster system. But at least, in a bad foster home, she met Lykon and he became her brother. And then, they decided to stick in group homes so they could keep being together. And that’s how they met Margot and Nicole, and they became their sisters as well. They kept being a family, even after they left the foster system.

“Are you sure you aren’t just running because Lykon and Margot are not here anymore?” Nicole asks, insisting on wanting to know her reason to move out alone to another city.

Lykon is in the army and he’s in Afghanistan at the moment. Margo is in Los Angeles, she had moved out with her first friend because both want to become actresses. And Nicole, well she is married. She loves her and her husband Kaith, but she doesn’t want to be a burden with her constant life crisis. 

“I don’t know” She can’t lie to her sister and the truth is she doesn’t know why she wants to go to New York, she just feels like it’s what she has to do. “I just want to figure out what to do with my life and i feel like i have to do this, i want to try it” She explains the best she can.

“Okay” Nicole acepts. “So, you are not gonna become a stranger? We are going to talk every week and we are going to see each other for holidays and or vacations” She insists, because she worries about her sister and her trendes to isolate herself.

“I promise, we are sisters and family is forever” She swears. 

Nicole helps her pack and the next day takes her to the airport. The goodbyes are kinda bitter to her, but this one isn’t that bad because she knows it’s not final. And she is actually a little excited about getting to know a new city and starting her master. Maybe she can work as an interpreter once she finishes it.

New York it is beautiful. It's big and loud, and she can get lost all she wants. She likes disappearing in crowds and just existing in the middle of chaos. 

Andy likes her apartment, but she feels like she’s not gonna get along well with her roommate. She heard her made some homophobic coment to their neighbours, so she starts avoiding her and looks for a job. She finds a job easily, after all firefighters are always needed. But she has to wait for a month to start, so they can do all the papers from Chicago to give her the pass.

She finds a perfect place to study. A Coffee & Book Shop. She loves it because they have vietnamita food and they have a different menu everyday. She likes trying all the sweet things they make. And one of the managers is a very beautiful woman. She looks more like a top model than a coffee manager. She knows her name is Quynh because she wears a name tag.

“Is your name vietnamese?” Andy asks her one day, surprising herself because she hasn't thought about what conversation she would make with that.

“Yes” Quynh answers. She’s probably more surprised than Andy, because she is a person who would almost never start a conversation.

“What is it’s meaning?” She keeps asking, because apparently she is having a fuck up kinda day.

“Night blooming flower” Quynh says with a little smile.

Andy thinks the name and it’s meaning fits the woman very well, almost in a flawless way. 

She thinks about asking Quynh out sometimes, she even imagines how she would do it in different languages. But she doesn’t, because she doesn’t even know if Quynh is into women. So she conforms herself with looking and appreciating her from afar. 

Perhaps she should start with giving Quynh her name when she asks, but she doesn’t. Lykon and Andy have a stupid habit to never give their names in coffee’s shops, they would always just say A and L. And she wants to keep doing it, because that makes her feel near him somehow. 

Andy goes to have a coffee at her favorite shop before her first day at work. And of course she gets a dessert too, because eating something sweet always puts her in a good mood. And seeing the beautiful woman, aka Quynh, is the only thing that makes it worth the early rise. 

She goes to the fire station and meets her partners and her captain. She doesn’t pay too much attention to their names, she’s gonna get them as she works. 

Her first day is not exactly a good one.

“Aren’t we going to do anything?” Andy asks her captain, surprised that he hasn't given them orders yet.

“No” Merrick answers her.

“But there is probably a gas loss on that apartment, it could be dangerous for them and the whole building” She tries to reason with him.

“Whatever, I don't care about those people, I don't serve them” Merrick says in a bad way.

“Well I do” She disagrees with him.

“If you are going to go and do something about it, it’s gonna be your responsibility” Merrick warns her.

“Fine with me” She says. 

That’s how she learns her new captain is a transphobic asshole, the reason he doesn’t want to help this group of women is because they are trans. She’s actually disgusted with him and very angry too. She doesn’t care if this brings her problems, she’s just gonna do her job and try to help whatever way she can. 

She goes with Blanca to her apartment and does an evaluation. She finds the problem and calls a gas operator so they can fix it. She stays there until the job is finished and they can ensure everything works well.

At the end of the day she’s tired and she is only in a mood for something sweet. So she goes to her favorite Coffee & Book Shop, but it’s closed and she’s a little disappointed about it. She had forgotten that the only days they serve dinner are fridays and saturdays. 

So, she buys some chicken with almonds in a china place and then goes to her apartment to have dinner in her room. She opens google and searches for vietnamita online classes. 

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

A month has passed and Quynh is glad it actually ended, because that means she has finished her exams for now. 

A is at her Coffee & Book shop again and she can’t stop looking at her. But really, who can blame her? A is gorgeous. She speaking french with Booker and suddnely she’s laughing, she’s fucking laughing! Quynh thinks it is the first time she has heard A laugh, so she tries to enjoy it the best she can while it lasts.

Quynh wants to say something to her, something nice to make her day. But before she can think of anything, A’s cell phone is ringing. And it must be something important, because she’s out of the shop before her order of dessert is ready. 

“What were you laughing about?” She asks Booker, with curiosity.

“About les miserables, apparently she doesn’t appreciate french take on revolutions very much” He answers. 

“Yes, I agree with her on that” She accepts, apparently A is intellectual. 

“Maybe you should learn some french so you can have that conversation with her” He suggests. 

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, we both know I don’t have the patience to learn new languages” She reminds him.

“Should I be offended that i’m french and you didn’t learn anything from me in all these years?” He asks in a teasing way, making her laugh.

They work all day in a very good mood. It’s friday, so the shop is gonna be open for dinner too. But that change when they get a call from Nicky. He tells them that he had a panic attack while he was attending a bad accident. It had been bad, and Joe and Nile hadn’t been in it. He asks for a group reunion at his and Joe’s apartment. 

They close the shop, friends are more important.

Nile meets them at the door and the three of them get into the apartment together. Joe receives them and tells them Nicky is taking a shower. They wait for him in the living room. When he’s out and he is changed with clean and comfortable clothes, he comes to them and almost collapses. They hug him and snuggle with him in the coaches. This is what they do when one of them is having a bad time, a crisis, a problem or a heart broken.

“It was really bad, but I’m not ready to talk about it yet” Nicky says, after almost an hour of silence.

“It’s okay, you don’t need to say anything” Nile assures him.

“Take all the time you need, we’re here with you” Quynh adds, while she plays with his hair.

“Can you do something for me?” Nicky asks.

“Wherever you need habibi” Joe answers him.

“Distract me” Nicky requests. 

“The mysterious coffee woman knows french” Booker starts telling them. “So, i think Quynh should learn french” He says, winking at Quynh.

“Omg that’s hilarious” Nile laughs at the idea, and because her laugh is very contagious they all laugh with her. “You should totally learn” She says to her friend.

“I don’t want to learn french” Quynh protests.

“Yes, french is a boring language” Nicky agrees.

“Heey, watch it” Booker complains, throwing a cushion at him. 

“You watch it” Joe says, catching the cushion before it could hit Nicky. “You don’t need to learn all the language, I can teach you one poem” He offers to Quynh.

“That’s nice, but no thank you” Quynh rejects the idea.

“What about Andy?” Nicky asks, changing the topic.

“What about her?” Joe asks back, because the question it’s strange. Why does he wants to know about his and Nile’s coworker?

“What do you know about her? It’s been a month since she is in your squad, so anything new you learned?” Nicky explains what he had meant. 

“We don’t know a lot about her, she keeps a lot to herself and never comes to hang out with us out of the station” Joe admits, trying to think of something.

“Well, I know she does martial arts, boxing and fencing” Nile says with a smile.

“She’s actually very good at boxing, she won a fight against Jay” Joe says, smiling as he remembers the fight. “And she is a great firefighter, she’s brave, confident, has good reflexes, thinks quickly, takes responsibility and action without doubting herself” He describes what he could learn about her in the time they’ve worked together.

“What he is trying to say is that she should be our captain, not Merrick” Nile concludes for him, making them all laugh. 

They talk for a little while more. Then Quynh makes popcorn and Booker makes hot chocolate, and they all snuggle together as they watch old movies. 

The next day they have a lot of work at the Coffee & Book shop. Fridays, saturdays and sundays are always very busy days. 

On sunday is when Quynh sees A again. She comes at lunch time and of course asks for a dessert instead of a dish of actual food. Quynh decides to take her the dish of the day anyway, remembering that on friday she never got the order she had asked and paid for. 

“Here you go” Quynh says as she leaves the dishes on A’s table.

“Oh, you didn’t have to bring them to me” A says a little confused, because she knows in this shop you are the one who take your own order to your table.

“I wanted to, and I add the menu of the day to repay you for your friday’s order” Quynh let her know. 

“What is it?” A asks looking at the dish with wonder. 

“It’s called pho ga” Quynh answers her. “It’s a soup with chicken, rice noodles, flagstones, lime, bean sprouts, mint, basil and coriander” She explains.

“Thank you” A appreciates, smelling the food with a smile on her face.

“You’re welcome” Quynh says smiling at the sight of her mysterious woman being found on vietnamita food.

Quynh keeps working, until A comes to her. That surprises her in a good way, because the other woman is usually not very talkable. 

“I just wanted to say thank you again for the food, it was all very delicious” A says honestly.

“That’s nice for you to say, it's always good to know” Quynh says, in a little teasing way, but she doesn’t think the other woman realizes that. “I’m not the chef though, I only make the recipes and choose the menu for the day” She let her know.

“Okay, them congratulate your cooks too” A says as she gets ready to leave.

And in that moment Quynh sees something new in her, something she hasn't realised before. A has a bandage in one of her hands and part of her arm. That calls her attention, what happened to her? And how hasn’t she noted before? 

“What happened to your arm?” She asks before A leaves.

“Nothing, just an accident at work” A answers without giving it too much value.

She is about to ask her what she does at work, when another client calls her from the counter. And that’s all it takes for A to leave. A is definitely very quick and elusive in some way. Quynh can’t help herself, so she watches her go away. She likes the way A walks. She likes the little she knows about her. And she wants to know more.


	4. Chapter 4

Andy is doing okay at work most of her days. She likes her coworkers enough to make tolerable the fact that they have to deal with a captain who is detestable. She never hangs out with them though, because she always has other priorities. Like training or studying... Or maybe she is just isolating herself like her sister Nicole always accuses her of. 

Anyway, today is one of those bad days. 

A building is on fire and it could collapse in any minute. 

“Let’s handle this fire from the front” Merrick orders the squad. 

“Captain, I think we should take the fire from different angles” She suggests. 

“Why?” He asks looking at her in an intimidating way.

“Because the building is about to collapse, so if we take it from different angles we can give the chance to some of us to go looking for the people trapped there” She explains frustrated, it should be common sense what she is saying to any firefighter.

“Well I think the front is our best chance” He argues.

“But…” She starts to argue back.

“I’m the captain and I make the orders, not you” He interrupts her and reminds her what her place is. 

So they do what Merricks orders and take the fire from the front. Of course it doesn’t work well and the building collapses, and the people who were trapped in it are probably all dead. 

Once the fire is extinguished Merricks orders them to go back to the station.

“But what about the people?” She asks, feeling even more angry with the situation.

“They are dead” Merrick answers.

“It’s our job to respect them and take out their bodies from the remains of the building” She argues. 

“Do whatever you want, my order it’s to leave the scene” He says. 

Andy is angry, sad and tired. All at once. So she does what she wants to do, she does what feels like it’s the right thing. She goes back to the scene to recover the bodies. Her coworkers follow her example and she feels thankful for that. It’s good that they are not horrible people like Merrick.

The paramedics that are in the scene helps them too. They start freeing the bodies, when one of them has a panic attack. Andy recognizes him, she has seen him before hanging out with Joe and Nile. If she remembers well his name is Nicolo. 

“It’s okay Nicolo, you are okay, just breath” She says, bending down to his side.

“Non riesco a respirare” (i can’t breathe) Nicky says between heavy breaths.

He’s speaking italian and that surprises her for a moment. But she recovers quickly, glad that she knows italian to understand and talk him back in the language he chose to use. 

“Se puoi” (yes, you can) She says, gaining his attention at the use of his language. “Sei al sicuro, per favore respira con me” (you’re safe, breathe with me please) She adds, trying to calm him.

She offers him her hand, so he can take it if he wants to. He accepts it and grabbes to her hand with all his strength, like the contact between them is the only thing keeping him in the present. She caresses his hand softly, to try to bring him out of his panic. 

They stay like that for some minutes, until Nicolo finally can follow her breaths and start breathing normally again. 

“Thank you” He thanks her.

“You’re welcome” She says and helps him stand up. “Take some minutes, and if you don’t feel okay to come back to the scene then don’t” She indicates kindly. 

Andy goes back to the remains of the building to help her coworkers in recuperating the bodies. It takes them a lot of work, but they free the bodies of fourteen people and they find one survivor. 

One survivor. That’s good, but it’s not good enough. She’s sure they could’ve done better if they would have made other decisions. 

They take the survivor to the ambulance and watch him go.

She doesn’t know how to feel about that. If she would be the survivor of this situation, she is not sure she would have wanted to survive.

But this is not about her in that way. It’s about her as a firefighter. And today she feels frustrated and quilty, because she is sure what she wanted to do to take the fire would have had better results than this. 

She knows her coworkers feels the same, she knows because of the way they watch her. They are looking at her with admiration and respect. It should make her feel better, but it actually makes her feel worse. Fuck Merrick and his orders, if there is a next time she’s gonna do whatever the hell she wants.

She goes to the fire station and takes a shower. 

Once her shift is over she’s only in the mood for something sweet. And maybe seeing Quynh helps her to improve her mood. 

So she goes to the Coffee & Book shop, but is closed and that totally disappointed her. She’s also surprised about it, because it’s friday, it should be open. 

She goes to the market and buys ice cream and vodka. She enters her apartment, goes to her room and tries to take comfort with that. 

She sleeps in all saturday. And on sunday she goes to the Coffee and Book shop again, this time for lunch. She’s relieved when she finds it open. She had been scared, for a moment, at the chance that it had closed forever. She’s just probably being a little dramatic.

Quynh gives her a dish of pho ga as a retribution for the time she left the shop without taking her order with her. Andy enjoys the food and likes to watch Quynh works. She’s wearing a tank top today, so she can appreciate her tattoos. She loves how they look on her and wish she could know if they have some meaning.

“What happened to your arm?” Quynh asks before she leaves the shop.

“Nothing, just an accident at work” She answers without giving it too much value.

Oh, she has forgotten about that. She had hurt her arm the day of the accident. It’s not really bad and it doesn’t hurt a lot, just burns a little. 

But she doesn’t want to think about work, nor the accident. She still hasn't processed everything that happened. So, when a client calls for Quynh, she takes it as a sign to leave. 

She goes out to the street and looks back at the shop, that it’s becoming her favorite place in this city, to appreciate it from outside. 

She likes everything about this shop. The coffee, the vietnamita food (especially the desserts), the books, the aesthetic, the chill and private atmosphere, Quynh… She really likes Quynh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know italian and i don't know anything about how firefighters works, so feel free to correct me if i make a mistake.


	5. Chapter 5

It’s thursday again. This time it's Nile’s turn to make dinner. She cooks some tacos because she was craving to have mexican food. Quynh likes spicy food, so she enjoys her tacos happily.

“Today I found out Andy speaks arabic” Joe tells them, as is something very important. And it probably is because most people in the USA don’t learn to speak arabic. 

“What? How?” Nile asks, very surprised.

“I was fighting with Merrick in his office, and when I went out I started cursing in arabic. All of our coworkers were laughing, but then Andy joined me and started to curse with me in arabic” He answers with enthusiasm. 

“That sounds nice, bonding about cursing Merrick” Quynh teases him. 

“Yes” Joe agrees with her, laughing. “But also it was nice to hear someone talk arabic so naturally, she really impressed me” he admits. 

“She can speak italian too” Nicky adds. 

“”What? How do you know?” Nile asks, more surprised than before. 

“The day of the bad accident, she was the one who calmed me out of my panic attack and she did it speaking me in italian” Nicky explains.

“Impressive” Nile appreciates. 

“Women speaking different languages are hot, right?” Booker asks Quynh, in a kinda mocking way.

“What?” Quynh asks, confused. 

“Your mysterious coffee woman can speak french and russian, remember?” Booker reminds her with a teasing smile.

“True” Quynh says, now also smiling at the memory. “And yes, women that can speak different languages are hot” She admits, agreeing with him.

The next day her mysterious coffee woman is at her shop for dinner time and she’s reading a book in another foreign language again. Greece? Latin? She’s not sure. But yes, she finds the fact that A knows different languages very hot. 

Maybe she could convince her to read her poetries in different languages some day. The idea makes her laugh and she tells herself: just keep dreaming Quynh, keep dreaming...

Suddenly, she has an idea. She goes to A’s table and gives her a dessert. 

“Hi” Quynh greets her. “We’re trying a new recipe, so i thought you would like to try it” She says, offering the dessert. 

“That’s nice, thank you” A appreciate and accept the dessert. “Are you vietnamita?” She asks as she inspects the pie.

“Yes” Quynh answers, a little surprised because A usually doesn't start personal conversations. 

“Do you miss it?” A asks. 

It takes Quynh a while to react, because A is trying the dessert and is making some approval sounds with her throat. It’s really delightful to watch her like that and hear her moaning sounds. Quynh can imagine a lot of situations where she would like to hear her keep making those sounds.

“Sometimes” Quynh finally answers, as the other woman keeps looking expectantly. 

She does miss her country. She misses their manners, their language and their nature. What she doesn’t miss is the hate she recibed from some of her family members after they found out she is a lesbian.

“This is pretty great” A tells her, pointing out the dessert.

“Good to know” Quynh nods. “What about you? Where are you from?” She encourages herself to ask the other woman something back, to take advantage of the fact that A is in the mood to talk. 

“What? Don’t I look like a north american?” A asks, in a teasing way.

Quynh laughs at that. She’s not sure that A has the intention to be funny, but she is to her. She can’t believe that she is so fascinated by this strange woman, but apparently she is. 

“No, you don’t” Quynh answers honestly. She’s not sure why, but the other woman never gave her the vibe of being north american.

“Well, if you are asking where I was born, that would be Ukraine” A tells her. And even when she is answering her question, she still sounds a little mysterious about it.

“Interesting” Quynh appreciates the new information.

Their little conversation it’s interrupted because another client is calling for her. So she goes to keep doing her job and let A enjoy her free dessert. 

The weekend passes quickly and intensely. Sometimes she thinks they shouldn't open the shop on fridays and saturdays nights to avoid the chaos of having so many clients at the same time. But it’s also what brings them more money and they need it, so it’s better to deal with it. 

A new week starts and it brings peace again to the shop. She even has time to study and do a project she has to give to one of her professors of her master. She’s actually finishing the project in the shop, before they open it. 

“I met Andy today” Booker tells her with a smile, as he enters the store.

“Ohh, good for you” She’s not sure what to say, it’s that supposed to be something relevant to her?

“Joe and Nile were right, she’s hot” He informs her.

“Congratulations” She says unimpressed.

“I think she would be your type” He teases her.

Before she can answer him, he disappears to take over the new books that have arrived at the store. It seems all her friends know this Andy woman and can’t stop talking about her. Quynh is starting to get intrigued about her, but doesn’t give it too much magnitude. If she has to know her, she guess she will do it someday.

Next thursday it’s her time to cook. Joe and Nile say they’re gonna be late because they are attending some bad fire. So she decides to make a homemade soup, because she thinks they will be needing some comforting food. 

When Joe and Nile get to her apartment she lets them shower and then they all snuggle in the couches to eat the dinner. They stay in silence for a long time, enjoying each other's company and some little music Nicky chooses as background sound.

“I think Andy is gonna be fired” Nile says, being the first one to break the calm they are in.

“Why?” Quynh asks surprised, for the few things they had told her about Andy she knows the woman is very good at her job.

“She didn’t follow Merrick’s orders today, she chose to do what was right to stop the fire and save the people. And we all followed her instead of him.” Joe explains the situation.

“You were right about her, she’s brave” Book gives his opinion.

“She is” Joe nods, agreeing with him.

“If she wouldn’t have done that, the people would have been trapped in the building and died. Even with what we did, we lose two persons” Nile tells them, sounding very sad about it.

“What’s important it’s you did the right thing” Nicky says kindly.

“I know, but those two people... It’s hard to lose people, even if we know we did the right thing” Nile expresses what she feels.

“We can’t save everyone” Joe reminds her and himself the sad truth of their job.

They stay all the night snuggling on the couch, comforting Joe and Nile, and also Nicky in some kind of way because he understands their ache. They aren’t heroes and they can’t save everyone, but they do so much good. They bring so much joy and happiness to Quynh, and she’s sure they also bring kindness to the whole world. She loves them so much, so she tries to show her how important they are everyday.


	6. Chapter 6

Andy is having another bad day at work. Seems like everyday at work is bad if Merrick is there making the orders. And that happens almost all the time because he’s the captain.

It’s been almost two months since she joined this unit, but she’s already tired. She felt like she’s been here, dealing with her asshole captain, for hundreds of years.

They are attending a fire, and Merrick is avoiding sending them to the building. But there’s people trapped there and the way he wants to handle the fire is gonna make the building fall down. 

She’s not gonna make the same mistake again. This time she’s gonna do what she knows is right.

“We need to attack the fire from different angles, so we can get into the building” She says to Merrick.

“Do i always need to remind you that i’m the one who gives the orders here?” He asks, feeling annoyed and threatened by her.

“I don’t care, you may be my captain, but i’m going to do this right and i’m going to get into that building so i can help the people to get out” She tells him with confidence.

She picks up a helmet, a mask, an axe and makes her way to the building’s front. Suddenly all her coworkers are following her. That surprises her, she really hasn't been expecting them to react like that. They all look at her expectantly and she knows they need a lider. So she takes that place. 

She gives orders and they all follow her lead. She makes them divide in different groups so they can attack the fire from different angles. She chooses Joe and Nile to join her to the inside rescue. They work in tune together and they take out the eleven people who were trapped in the building. 

“I’m tired of you and your disrespect to me, I don't want you in my squad. Tomorrow we’ll be meeting with our superiors to talk about this” Merrick tells her.

This probably means they are going to fire her. Whatever, she doesn’t care. She did the right thing here and she doesn’t regret it. 

She goes to her apartment and finds out all her things in boxes in the hall. She tries to use her keys, but they don’t work. Her roommate must have changed the locks, what means she’s kicking her out. And probably what set her off was the fight they had the day before, where she defended their neighbours from her roommate’s attacks. 

The truth is her roomate is an homophobic moron and Andy is glad to not have to keep living with her, but she doesn’t have a backplan for this. After the day she had all she wants is to take a shower, eat junk food and sleep.

She leaves her boxes in her car and goes to the fire station to wait for Merrick to leave. Once he’s out, she goes in and takes a shower. She buys herself some McDonald's and goes to her car. She eats and sleeps there.

In the morning she goes to her favorite place, the Coffee & Book shop, to have coffee. She feels like she will need it to give herself the energy to deal with the meeting she’s gonna have with Merrick and her superiors.

“Are you okay?” Quynh asks her, looking at her worried.

“Yes, just some bad stuff going on” She answers honestly.

It warms her that Quynh is this kind to her, when they’re absolutely strangers. She wonders how she is with the people she loves and she imagines she is pretty amazing. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Quynh offers her, as she starts making the coffee she asked for.

“Not really” She answers. 

Somehow she feels like she trusts Quynh and she’s sure that it would be safe to talk to her, that she would understand. But she’s not in the mood for it. If she talks about it, she’s gonna explode before her meeting and she can’t let herself do that. 

“Just life stuff, you know? Like my roommate throwing me out without warning and probably losing my job” She finally tells Quynh, because she wants to share something with her even if she doesn’t get into the details.

“That sucks” Quynh simply says as she diggest the information. “Here, have this so it helps to make your day better” She offers, giving her a bahn xoai with her coffee.

“Thank you” She appreciates, accepting the gesture. 

The bahn xoai it’s delicious and it puts her in a very good mood. 

She goes to the fire station and has the reunion with Merrick and her superiors. 

Surprisingly is not her who they fired, is Merrick. And to her shock, they offer her to take the place as captain. She has been a firefighter since she graduated from high school, so they think she has the experience for it and also they value her leadership abilities. 

She agrees if they maintain the schedule she has been having, because she needs that to coordinate with the master she’s doing. They accept her request and that’s how she becomes captain. 

The first thing she does is call her sisters Margot and Nicole, because she needs to share her happiness with them. She wishes she could call Lykon too, but he’s unavailable for the moment. Her sisters congratulate her and wish her the best for this new phase in her work.

The squad welcomes her as a captain really well and that feels nice. She may have not made friends yet in the station, but she’s a good work partner and firefighter, they all respect her for that.

She feels like she’s starting to accomodate to New York, starting to feel it like home in some way. If only she could find a new apartment…

She spends two weeks rotating between her car and her office at the firestation. She knows she needs to find a new place to live, but she can’t and she’s starting to feel like it’s impossible. All the apartments she goes to see are too expensive, too far away or don’t have windows. 

She’s sleeping in her car, when suddenly someone wakes her up, knocking on her window. It’s Joe. Fuck! What is he doing there? She rubs her eyes and goes out of the car to speak with him.

“Are you sleeping in your car cap?” He asks, looking a little concerned.

“Maybe” She answers. When she doesn’t find any judgement from him, she finally relaxes. “I’m looking for a new place to stay, but it seems like it’s impossible to find a fair apartment and roommate in New York” She explains, expressing her frustration.

“You are okay with having a roommate?” He asks. 

“Yes, actually i need it, they didn’t give me a enough increase of salary with my title as captain to pay for a place of my own” She answers honestly. 

“Well, perhaps I have the solution” He tells her, looking excited about his idea. “I have a friend who lives five blocks from the station, she’s looking for a roommate” He informs her.

She thinks about it for a minute and she comes to the conclusion this is a good idea. She agrees to give it a try, so Joe gives her all the data she needs. She’s surprised when Joe says her friend is called Quynh. Could this friend be the manager of the Coffee & Books shop she likes so much? No, it’s probably just a coincidence. Andy is sure a lot of women in New York are called Quynh.

In the afternoon she goes to see the apartment, like they had planned via text message. 

She rings the bell and Quynh lets her pass. She goes to the seven floor, apartment C, and knocks on the door.

The door opens and it turns out Joe’s friend is actually her Quynh from the Coffee & Book shop. 

“You must be Quynh, Joe’s friend” She says with a smile.

“Yes” Quynh nods. “So, you are Andy” She says astonished. 

“I am” She confirms. 

Quynh is probably more surprised than she is about this whole situation. But that’s okay, maybe all this turns out to be a very good thing after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bahn xoai is a mango cake.


	7. Chapter 7

Quynh is stressed. Her roommate has moved out because she wanted a change in her career and went to another city to study something different. 

It’s been two weeks and she still can’t find a good candidate to be her new roommate. And she needs one because she can’t pay all the costs of it alone. Also she has to admit she’s a little scared, because she has had bad experiences before with some roommates.

Suddenly a possible solution comes to her alone. Joe calls her and tells her that Andy, his now captain, is looking for a new place to live. So, Quynh texts with Andy, and they agree that this afternoon she’s gonna show her the apartment. 

“I’m going out for a while” She tells Booker, so he can know he’s in charge of the shop while she’s gone.

“Where?” Booker asks curiously. 

“My apartment, it seems like Joe found me a new roommate, so i’m gonna show her the place” She answers, starting to feel a little nervous about the situation. 

“That’s great” He says, happy for her. “Who?” He wants to know. 

“Andy” She informs him.

“Andy? Joe’s and Nile’s coworker? The new captain of the fire station?” He questions her, looking very surprised about it.

“Yes” She nods. “Is something wrong with that?” She wants to know why he’s acting strange about it. She thought that they all liked that Andy woman. 

“No” He assures her. “Just, i think that’s gonna be interesting” He says with a mocking smile, like he knows something she doesn’t.

“Sebastian” She uses his name to warn him that he’s bothering her.

“Just take some sweets with you, i’m sure she’s gonna like them” He advises her and disappears to tend some customers before she can say anything more. 

Quynh takes some sweets with her. She doesn’t know why she takes Booker's advice, but she does. She realises she’s nervous, she wants Andy to like her. She knows Joe, Nile and Nicky admire her; and it seems booker liked her too, even if he only saw her once. So, she wants Andy to like her and like her back. She doesn’t want to cause problems between her friends.

She accommodates the apartment, as she waits for Andy to arrive. 

After a while, the bell rings. It’s Andy. She lets her in and waits. Her voice sounded familiar, but she doesn’t know why. 

Then the door is being kicked, so she goes and opens it. 

She finds A on the other side. She’s so shocked about it, that she stays frozen in her place. Is this real? Can it be possible that A is Andy? 

“Hi Quynh” Andy greets her. 

She can tell the other woman is also a little surprised about the situation, but not so shockingly. Perhaps when Joe told Andy about her, she was expecting to find her. After all, her Coffee & Book shop was a few blocks from the fire station.

“You are Andy” She finally says, still surprised. 

“I am” Andy nods. 

“Come in” She says as she lets her pass inside. “Do you want a tour?” She offers, because she’s not sure how to carry on when all her feelings are exploding inside her. 

“That would be nice” Andy agrees. 

So Quynh shows her the apartment. She shows her the common areas: kitchen, dinner-living room, the bathroom and the balcony; and then the rooms, her own and the other one. 

“It’s not that big, but it’s quiet and has a lot of natural light” She explains to her, once they finished the tour.

“I think it’s perfect” Andy says.

“So, are you interested?” She asks.

“Yes, I am” Andy states. 

“Then, can I ask you some questions so we can make a contract?” She says as she points the other to sit down in one of the coaches to be more comfortable. 

“Of course” Andy agrees and sits down imitating her.

“What’s your name?” She asks.

“Andy Scythian” Andy answers.

“Andy isn’t a nickname?” She inquires curiously. 

“I’m not telling you my name because I don't use it, I don't like it” Andy explains.

“Ok” She accepts. “You work with Joe and Nile at the fire station, you are the captain now” She inquires. 

“That’s right” Andy confirms.

“Why are you looking to share an apartment?” That’s her polemic question, most people don’t like to be questioned about their reasons.

“Because i can’t afford one of my own in this location, and i want to be near the station and the university, and also save some money for traveling” Andy answers easily and honestly.

“Are you studying at NYU?” She asks, intrigued to know more about the other woman.

“Yes, I’m doing a master in multiple languages” Andy informs her.

“That’s impressive” She appreciates, she should be expecting something like that, after all she knew A could speak different languages. “Don’t you have to speak like ten languages to do that master?” She can’t help herself and just keeps questioning the other.

“Yes, that’s the minimum they ask” Andy answers.

“Can i ask what languages can you speak?” She requests to know politely.

“Well english of course” Andy says, making her laugh. “I can speak ukrainian, greek, italian, russian, afrikáans, french, arabic, spanish, portuguesse, chinese, germany, polish, turkish, hindi and latin” She enumerates, ignoring to mention that she’s also learning vietnamesse.

“That’s more than ten” She states.

“I know” Andy says with a little smile. 

“Okay” She tells herself to try to calm down, and take a deep breath. “For last, try to convince me that it is good for me to choose you as my roommate” She requests.

“I’m not one to beg, but… “ Andy starts and trails off... “I’m clean, neat, quiet and I won't bother you because I won't be here a lot. I spent most of my time working, studying or training. So, I'm gonna be here just to sleep, eat and shower” She says almost in a shy and serious way.

“That’s great” She nods, taking in in the information. “If you want we can try this for a month and then see how we go from there” She suggests.

“That’s good for me” Andy agrees. “Does it bother you if I move in like now?” She asks. 

“No, you can move anytime you want” She assures her. “Here, have your copy of keys” She says, giving her the keys of the apartment.

“Thank you” Andy thanks her and accepts the keys. “Then, i’m going to go to my car to search my things” She let her know.

Andy disappears before Quynh can offer her some help. The situation has her still so surprised, that she’s not good at reacting. 

She texts Booker about it and reproches him for not telling her about A and Andy being the same person. He was the only one of the group who has known about that, because he met “both women” that turns out to be just one. He must have enjoyed keeping the secret while it lasted, he probably have too much fun.

Quynh can’t believe she hasn't figured out that A and Andy are the same person before all this. All their similarities have been in front of her all this time, but she hasn’t tied up the dots. She feels embarrassed. 

And now they were going to be roommates, they were going to live together, share an apartment. If she liked her before, how is she supposed not to keep liking her now that she is gonna see her everyday?

Fuck, she was so screwed. 


	8. Chapter 8

Living with Quynh is easy, because she is clean and neat just like her. They don’t see each other a lot, seems like both are always working. 

“Can i paint my room?” She asks her, one rare morning that they find themselves having breakfast at the same time.

“Of course you can” Quyn answers without even doubting it. “It’s yours now” She reminds her.

On her next free day she buys a tin of paint. She chooses williamsburg green because that’s Lykon’s favorite color and feels that’s a way she can feel him near. She feels happy with the outcome and thinks that she could get used to feeling this place like her home.

She has to do a project for her master and she can’t concentrate on the apartment because it’s too quiet. Maybe it’s the consequence of having been in the foster system, but she needs people's noises sometimes to concentrate. So, she goes to the Coffee & Book shop.

She works eager, happily that she finally feels inspired. 

After a while she finds her table being invaded. Joe, Nicky and Nile greet her and sit down with her. 

“Hi boss” Joe says with a big smile. He likes to call her boss or cap, it’s actually cute.

“Hi” She greets him back, without taking her attention from her book.

“This is our favorite place, we always meet here” Nile informs her. 

“Booker and Quynh are our friends” Joe adds. “And he’s Nicky” He intrudes the other man.

“We know each other” She says unimpressed. 

“Of course you knew him, he’s the love of my life” Joe says in a poetic way.

“I know him because he’s a paramedic and we work in cooperation a lot” She clarifies. 

“What are you reading?” Nile asks her, checking her book with curiosity. 

“I’m reading latin, i’m doing a project about all languages whose bases are latin” She explains and takes the book from Nile, so she can’t unset the marks she has made.

“Are we interrupting you?” Nicky asks, feeling a little quilty. “If you want, we can go to another table” He offers with kindness.

“It’s okay, I'm used to the interruptions and noises, I can still concentrate” She assures him. 

So they stay with her. Booker and Quynh join them for some moments. She works in her project as she listens to the little group talk and banter. 

She realizes they are more than friends, they are family. She can feel that. It’s nice, their connection warms her. They make her remember how much she misses sharing simple moments like this with her brother and sisters.

“I think it is time for me to get going” She says as she starts collecting her things.

She has done most of the work for her project and she feels satisfied with it. Also, she comes to the conclusion that she’s probably being extra here. It’s thursday and the shop is not open for dinner. This is becoming a friend reunion and she doesn’t want to interrupt them. 

“Why?” Nile asks, surprised.

“It’s late, i want to have dinner and sleep” She excuses herself.

“You can have dinner with us” Nicky offers. 

“I don’t want to intrude” She says.

She feels a little stupid admiting that. But it's the truth. She’s not exactly a shy person, but she always had a thing about feeling uncomfortable in places where she doesn’t feel welcome. And the thing is she can’t fake in those situations; wherever she feels, it will show. That’s why sometimes people think of her as rude.

They are all nice people, she has to give them that. And perhaps that’s what makes her doubt herself, she doesn’t want to take advantage of their kindness. 

“You’re not, we are asking” Joe insists.

“Are you sure?” She asks, directing her question to Quynh, who just sat down next to Joe.

“Yes, come on, there’s a lot of food for all of us” Quynh answers her.

She stays and surprisingly has a great time. They make her feel comfortable and safe, wich it’s strange in a good way. She thinks she could easily get used to them and that it’s a little scary. 

The next week is a hard one for Andy. She has two exams, a lot of bad fires to tend to and also Lykon’s birthday. It’s hard for her not to be with him on his birthday, to not have the chance to celebrate with him. And she can’t call him either because apparently he's on some kind of mission.

It all passes quickly and intensely. It leaves her breathless and without energy for some moments, but she holds on and the little time she has free use it to release some of her pain in the gym. And only can calm down two days later, when Lykon sends her a message saying he’s okay and the mission went well.

So, on sunday, when she gets to the apartment late at night, all she wants it’s to sleep. But she takes a shower first and then sits on the balcony to eat some cereals.

“Hi” Quynh greets her, as she enters the apartment.

“Hi” She says back.

“Long week?” Quynh asks, taking a look at her tired state. 

“Too long” She confirms. 

“Are you eating cereals for dinner?” Quynh asks, noticing her bowl.

“Yes” She nods.

“No way” Quynh disapproves, shaking her head. “Come on, we’re gonna do something editable for us to eat, we deserve it after the long week” She says, offering her hand to help her stand up.

Andy takes Quynh’s hand and lets herself be dragg to the kitchen. 

They cook together as they listen to the radio. Andy chopes the vegetables and Quynh sautes them with some marinated chicken and soy sauce.

Once everything is ready they go to eat in the living room, making themselves comfortable in the coaches. 

“Choose something for us to watch” Quynh says, giving her the remote control.

“What?” She asks, a little confused.

“This it’s what we do to relax, we have nice food with friends as we watch something light that puts us in a good mood” Quynh explains.

“Are we friends?” She asks, sounding a little challenging.

Andy wants to make sure because she kinda likes the sound of that. She really likes Quynh and would like to be her friend. She doesn’t consider herself good at making friends, but for Quynh she wants to try and make the effort. 

“Yes” Quynh nods.

“So, that means we passed our month of proof?” She asks.

“What?” Quynh asks back, being now the one confused.

“When I moved here you said we should try living together for a month, yesterday is been a month” She expresses what she has meant. 

“Yes, I think we’re okay” Quynh says. “You?” She requests to know.

“We’re okay, I like living with you” She tells her honestly.

“Good” Quynh says with a smile. “Now choose something to watch please” She demands.

“I really don’t watch tv” She admits. “So feel free to choose wherever you want” She gives her the power of choosing back, trusting that she’s gonna have good taste for both of them.

Quynh chose some musical comedy. The food is great and the movie is funny. They laugh and they banter as they watch it. They have fun. 

When Andy wakes up, she’s on the couch and Quynh is sleeping with her head on her shoulder. She is so close to her that she can sense her breathing. She thinks this situation feels nice and suddenly finds herself smiling about it. She could definitely get used to this.


	9. Chapter 9

Quynh likes living with Andy. She’s clean and neat like she had said, and she’s really not that much in the apartment. But when she is, Quynh puts all attention on her.

She likes getting to know little things about her. She’s still a little mysterious, but living together gives some advantages to that. 

She learns that Andy sleeps at odd hours and really in any place available: a chair, the couch, the floor, the balcony… She also learns that she has a very good power of concentration, noises don’t bother nor distract her when she’s working on something. And she learns the woman eats like a child, the only things she always has on the fridge and her cupboard shelves are chocolates, sweets and junk food. 

“So, how is living with Andy going?” Booker asks her and the question makes all her friends focus their attention on her. 

They are all in her apartment because it’s thursday and it was her turn to cook. She has made nems because she finds them easy to make and she was in the mood for something fried.

“It’s good” She admits. “She’s clean, neat, quiet and she’s not really here that much” She tells them what she has learned till the moment.

“That’s not what we are asking and you know it” Booker complains.

“Yes, we want the dirty details” Joe agrees with Booker.

“Maybe not so many details” Nile says a little disgustedly, and they all laugh.

“We know you liked her from before, so now you like her more or less?” Nicky continues the interrogation, in a teasing way.

“How is to see her getting out of the shower? Or sleeping?” Booker asks.

“Have you tried training martial arts with her already?” Joe ads with curiosity. 

“Oh my god, you all suck!” Quyng complains, throwing some food at them from her plate. 

“Come one, you know you love us” Nile insists. 

“Okay, I still like her, happy?” Quynh confesses and takes a long breath. “But i’m not going to go there, she’s my roommate” She reminds them.

She had dated once with a roommate and it didn’t turn out well. They’ve almost ended hating each other. And it was heartbreaking for her when she realised the other woman was a little xenophobic, she judge asian people in bad way. Then, where that left Quynh? How did she judge her? She still has no idea.

“Not all roommates you date turn out to be assholes like the unnameable” Booker says, like he had read her mind.

“Maybe” She agrees.

“At least do you know if she likes women?” Nile asks, turning the topic in a light way again. 

“She does” She confirms. 

“How do you know?” Nicky requests to know.

“Well i think she may have a girlfriend, or two” She answers, like it’s not a big deal.

“What?” Nile and Joe ask at the same time, surprised. 

“She’s always on the phone talking with Nicole or Margot, and she calls them: love, darling, honey, sunshine” She explains.

“Wow, I've never imagined her to be one for pet names” Nile says, making all them laugh again.

Once dinner is over, they have some ice cream that Nicky had brought from his favorite italian ice cream store. They keep talking and laughing, like they always do. 

And then, the door of the apartment opens and Andy is there. She’s still with her firefighter suit and they all know what that means, she must have been in a bad accident. She hangs on to the door, breathing heavenly. 

They exchange worried looks and before Quynh can think about it, she’s crossing the space to get to Andy. She calls her name, but it doesn’t seem to work. So she touches her shoulder to get her attention and bring her to the present. Surprisingly, Andy graves her hand in a defensive way and pushes her. But, then Quynh sees the moment Andy realises who is with her and where she is, and gets ashamed of her mistake.

“I’m sorry” Andy says in a heartbreaking way, taking a step away from her.

“No, I am, I didn't want to scare you” She says honestly.

“It’s my fault, I should be used to living with someone else” Andy says, like she’s kinda reproaching herself.

“Are you okay?” She requests to know, feeling worried about the way Andy is acting. 

Andy seems distant and lost in her own head, like she’s in shock. And she has blood on her clothes, her arms and part of her face. She worries for a moment and tries to see if she’s hurt in any way, but she can’t find any injury visible.

“Yeah, just you know… work” Andy answers, dragging her words in a slow way.

“Do you want me to tell them to go?” She offers, pointing out to her friends.

“No, don’t. One of us should have a good day or night” She answers, shaking her head a little. 

Andy moves before she can say anything else to her. Quynh goes back to the table, but keeps looking at Andy. She watches her make her way to her room, but then she’s back, surprising everyone once more.

“I’m going to take a shower, it may take long. Does anyone need to use the bathroom before I do?” Andy offers, not daring to look anyone in their eyes. 

And Quynh thinks this woman is really unbelievable. She’s the one who is having a breakdown, and even in that state she’s kind enough to register them and their needs, and is able to think and ask something like that.

“No” Nicky it’s the first one to answer and the rest follow.

“Don’t worry, take your time cap” Joe assures her. He always uses nicknames like boss or cap to call her in a soft way, and he could see it work for a second because her shoulders relaxed.

Andy is moving again, but instead of going directly to the bathroom she goes to the kitchen. Quynh is confused about that. Should she offer her food? She probably didn’t have dinner yet. Then Andy passes them and she can see why she went to the kitchen, she’s carrying a bottle of vodka with her. 

No one talks until they can hear the shower going.

“Is she going to be okay?” Nile asks worried.

“I don’t know” Quynh admits.

They watch a movie to distract themselves. But even when they’ve finished it, Andy’s still in the bathroom. They say their goodbyes and Quynh is alone, alone with Andy. She goes to the bathroom and it’s about to knock when she hears her, she’s crying. And in a strange way, it breaks her heart to hear her that sad. She doesn’t know what to do, because they don’t know each other that well.

“Andy? Are you okay? Do you need anything?” She asks, as she knocks the door.

“Yes, I'm okay” Andy answers, after clearing her throat. 

Quynh lets her be and gives her space. She goes to her room and tries to sleep. 

For the next few days Andy doesn’t go to work. She stays locked up in her room all day. Quynh it’s worried and doesn’t know what to do. She wants to help her, but doesn’t know how and that irritates her.

“They gave her a free week for selfcare” Joe explains to her, while they all have lunch together at her shop.

If they made her take the week, that means she was in a bad accident. When they witness bad accidents they give them free days, so they can take care of their mental health. They have to go through their traumas to keep working. Quynh knows that thanks to Joe and Nile, and sometimes Nicky too.

“You should invite her for our country weekend, maybe some change of air will do her good” Nicky suggests.

Maybe that’s a good idea. Next time she sees her she’s going to ask her.


	10. Chapter 10

Andy arrives at the accident with her squad. It’s a bad one. Two tracks, two cars and a van had crashed. 

They work quickly, trying to put everyone safe. 

And then she finds a little girl trapped under the van. She has a metal traversing her chest. They can’t move her because she could bleed out. She’s crying and she’s scared. 

Andy knows her dad died in the crash, so she stays with the girl russering her meanwhile the others work in moving the remains of the van. 

“I’m scared” The girl says for what it feels like a million time.

“It’s okay to be scared” She tries to reassure her.

“Would you stay with me?” The girl asks her, clinging to her hand with all her strengths.

“I’m gonna be right here with you until all this ends, until we can get you out” She promises.

The thing is, there is no way to save her. They make all the calculations of the different moves they could do to move the van, and each of them ends with the girl dying. The only thing keeping her alive is what's smashing her. And there’s no way she was going to survive the trip to the hospital if they took her as she is.

The girl, Tiana, dies. And Andy is not okay with it. 

They give her a free week. 

She spends most of it drinking and sleeping. She’s never been good dealing with trauma. For the only things she leaves the apartment is to go to have a meeting with Tiana’s mother in the morgue and to go to the girl and her father's funeral. 

“Hi” Quynh wakes her up. 

It seems like she has slept on the coach. It hasn’t been a smart choice, now she can feel all the muscles of her body aching.

“How are you doing?” Quynh asks her, offering her a bottle of water and some aspirin. 

“A little hangover” She answers honestly, taking the aspirin with gratitude. 

“I know you have experienced something traumatic and I don’t know how you deal with that staffs, but I have a proposal” Quynh tells her, looking a little nervous. 

“What?” She requests to know, curiously.

“Joe’s family has a residence in the countryside, in Branchville. They invited us to spend the weekend, come with me” She relates her proposal. 

Fresh air and countryside, that actually sounds nice. Maybe the change of scenery would make her some good.

“Ok” She agrees. “But, are you sure I wouldn't be intruding?” She needs to know, because she doesn’t want to be a bother to Joe or his family.

“Not at all, they always have a lot of people” Quynh assures her. 

“Okay, then i’m going to have a shower and pack some things” She says, putting herself into action.

“You have one hour” Quynh let her know.

Andy takes a shower and then packs some things in a backpack. She doesn’t pack a lot, after all they are only staying for one night. Once they are both ready they leave the apartment. They take Andy’s car and because she doesn’t like showing without something to offer, she stops in one of her favorite bakery shops. 

“You don’t need to buy anything” Quynh insists.

“I know, but I want to” She insists. Andy can be very stubborn when she wants to. “This place makes the best baklava in the city” She informs, as they enter the bakery.

“What is baklava?” Quynh asks.

“You never tried baklava?” She asks, stopping as the surprise hits her. 

“No” Quynh denies. 

“Oh my god, we need to change that” She says in a dramatic way. “Baklava is the best dessert in the whole universe” She expresses her opinion.

“Everything sweet is the best for you” Quynh challenges her, raising her eyebrows at her.

“But this is on another level, it’s really my favorite” She says with confidence.

Andy buys three different kinds of baklava. Then they are back in the car, driving to Branchville. She insists on driving and Quynh doesn’t fight her on it. Andy loves driving, it relaxes her. And also, she wants to do this for Quynh in gratitude for the invitation.

They arrived at Joe’s family residence before lunch time. Joe, Booker, Nicky and Nile are already there. And that helps Andy feel a little more at ease, it’s always nice seeing familiar faces. And even more when the residence is full of strangers. Quynh hasn't lied to her about that. Joe’s family has invited a lot of people. Seems they had a lot of friends and a big family. 

Andy gets a room with Booker, Nile and Quynh. They leave their baggage there and then go to explore the place. 

She's not exactly in a mood to be surrounded by people, so she stays with Joe and helps him do the fire for the barbecue. Apparently he’s always in charge of doing it. She likes Joe because silences are comfortable with him, he never pressures her to talk.

“Can I go to see the horses?” She requests, pointing a corral it can be seen a little far from them. 

She has identified the horses since the moment they came outside. She always has loved horses. When she lived with her family on a farm, they were her favorite animal. 

“Of course, feel free to do whatever you want here” Joe answers, in a reassuring way.

Andy goes to the corral, takes off her boots and then gets into it. 

She stays there, just standing still and watching the horses for a while. She wants to give them time to get used to her presence. 

Suddenly, one of the horses comes near her. She takes the chance and starts caressing it. A bit later she’s caressing all of them, taking turns. She feels happy doing it, they bring her peace. 

Then she’s running and laughing between them. And she feels a little crazy when she realizes some of the guests of Joe’s family are looking at her from afar, but she doesn’t care. She loves horses too much. Maybe even more than some people.

“Had fun?” Quynh asks her, as she passes her boots.

“Yes” She confirms, putting back her boots.

“Were you some greek goddess of horses in other life or something like that?” Quynh teases her, making her laugh out loud at how ridiculous that sounds. 

“No goddess, i just love horses” She assures her.

“Yes, I can tell” Quynh says, looking at her with a strange intensity. “Come on, let’s go, lunch is ready and I'm hungry” she adds, grabbing her hand to lead her to the gallery.

Andy feels surprised at how naturally it feels to grab Quynh’s hand. 

It feels nice and she should probably freak out about it. But she doesn’t, because Quynh is smiling and that gives her peace. Besides this is the first time she actually feels happy since the accident, so she’s going to let herself enjoy it. 


	11. Chapter 11

She takes Nicky’s advice and invites Andy to the country weekend. Surprisingly she says yes. 

Quynh lets Andy drive and buy baklava, because she senses it’s what the other woman needs to feel comfortable with the situation and not think like she’s intruding. It’s nice to see her drive, she seems relaxed and like she really enjoys it. 

When they get to Branchville all her friends are already there. She gets lost a little, greeting everyone and then helping Joe’s mom to do some salads. 

When she goes out of the house, she finds Joe doing the barbecue and all her friends around him… except Andy, and that makes her worry instantly. Where the hell is she? 

“Where is Andy?” She asks them. 

“She’s with the horses,” Booker tells her and points at where Andy is. 

And then Quynh sees her and feels her world stop at the sight.

Andy is barefoot, laughing and running with the horses. She seems free and wild, and actually looks happier than she had ever seen her be. She’s so beautiful that it takes her breath away. 

How is she supposed to not like this woman?

“She looks like some greek goddess, doesn’t she?” Nile says.

“Yes” Quynh agrees. “I’m so screwed” She admits, making all her friends laugh at her. 

“We would be worried if you weren’t” Nicky jokes.

“I don’t know what to do about it” She tells them.

“Maybe you should tell her you like her” Nile suggests.

“That you think she’s hot” Booker adds.

“Or just ask her for a date” Nicky says.

“Stop” Quynh says, shaking her head. “She’s my roommate” She reminds them, like that should be reason enough for her to stop thinking about the other woman.

“Well, to get started you can tell her lunch is ready” Joe says.

So, Quynh goes to get Andy before any of her friends can put more ideas in her head about her roommate. She really doesn’t need to be encouraged by them, she has enough with her own thoughts.

She grabs Andy’s hand without even thinking about it, like it’s something natural they’ve been doing since forever. When she realises about it she feels stupid... but Andy hangs to her hand with strenght, like she doesn’t want her to let go. So she doesn’t.

Lunch is great, the barbecue and the baklava are exquisite. They all tried the baklava and loved it, then thanked Andy for the gesture and the revelation. 

In the afternoon they do some outdoor activities. They ride horses, they walk, they sunbathe, and they do martial arts. Joe’s cousins are obsessed with martial arts and they made the habit to always have competitions. The winner it’s usually Joe, she or Gabil, one of his cousins.

“Can i compete too?” Andy asks.

“Of course” Gabil answers.

“But just for you to know, Gabil almost always wins” Haamis, another of Joe’s cousins, says to her.

“We shall see” Andy says, sounding a little challenging.

“Quynh and I had also won a lot of times” Joe adds, annoyed about his cousin's attitude. 

Then the fighting begins. And Quynh can’t stop looking at Andy, she really can’t stop.

She has never seen someone so beautiful, hot, scary and talented at the same time. Andy fights like she had been fighting her whole life. She mixes different styles of martial arts, using them as her advantage, as is the most easy and natural thing to do. She’s amazing. 

When she fights against her and she loses, she doesn’t care. She’s just happy that she has had the experience to fight with her. To watch her concentrate on her, to watch her read her and try to guess her moves, to watch her smile at every challenge she had presented to her.

“See? I told you Andy could do martial arts” Nile tells her.

“But you didn’t tell me she was this good” She protests. 

“Well, now we both know she is” Nile says. “And she’s hot” She adds, with a triumphant smile.

“I won’t argue with that” She says in a defensive way.

And when Andy’s the winner of the competition, she celebrates it. She’s happy a woman won against Gabil, that man really needs to learn to stop underestimating women. 

Then it’s time for dinner. They are having a good time until Joe’s cousins start talking and making jokes in arabic. She and her friends know what it is, even if they don’t speak arabic, because it happens most of the time. They are probably doing jokes about lgbt people or catholics; because they don’t approve of Joe's relationship with Nicky.

They are waiting for it to pass, but Andy doesn’t know this and talks back with them. She obviously surprises them because her arabic is pretty great. And for the way they are looking at her she’s definitely won the argument. 

Quynh looks at her to try to thank her for defending Joe, but Andy looks at her like she’s panicking, like she just realised what she just did. Like it was not her place to interfere. Before she can say anything to calm her, Joe starts talking with her in arabic. Joe and Andy have an entire conversation in arabic that has both of them laughing. And even Joe’s mother joins them, like she’s glad that finally someone would confront her nieces. 

After dinner, they make a bonfire and they drink wine. Suddenly they start playing “answer or wine” as Nile’s idea. And it’s a little ridiculous because they are adults, but they are friends having fun and it feels nice.

“Are you dating anyone?” Nile asks Andy, after the other had said she’s bisexual.

“No, I'm single right now” Andy answers. 

“Don’t lie” Quynh snaps and feels a little embarrassed when they all look at her surprised for her intervention. “What about Nicole or Margot?” She presses the topic. 

“You think they are my girlfriends?” Andy asks back amused and laughs out loud. 

Quynh thinks Andy is even more beautiful when she laughs. There is something about the way she does it, how she wrinkles her nose and places her head back making her short hair mess up. She thinks she could hear her laugh all night and never get tired of it.

“They are my sisters” Andy finally clarifies. 

“You have sisters?” Quynh asks curiously, because until that moment she hasn't heard her talk about her family.

“Two foster sisters and one foster brother” Andy answers. “We don’t see each other a lot lately, Margot is in LA, Nicole in Chicago and Lykon in some part of Afghanistan with the army” She says, sounding a little nostalgic. 

“It’s hard being far from our family” Nicky says, empathizing with her.

“Yes, sometimes it is” Andy agrees. “Are you two married?” She asks Joe and Nicky. 

“No yet” Joe answers.

“We’re engaged” Nicky informs her. 

“Are you going to invite me to the wedding?” Andy asks in a teasing way.

“Of course boss” Joe answers her, without even dubbing it. “Maybe you could do a speech in arabic for us?” He suggests, looking at her in a special way. 

“It would be my pleasure” She accepts and winks one of her eyes playfully at him.

Quynh watches Andy talking with her friends and feels happy. Andy fits perfectly with all of them and that warms her heart. She can become part of their family. 

She just hopes that maybe, in the future, she can become something more to her than just a friend.


	12. Chapter 12

The weekend was great. She feels very grateful with Quynh, so on monday she makes her breakfast. 

She tries waking her up, but she can’t. Seems like Quynh is a heavy sleeper. Andy has to go, if not she’s gonna be late for work. So, she programs a lot of alarms in Quynh’s phone, texts Booker that he should be the one who opens the Coffee & Book shop today, and leaves her a note with the breakfast.

“Cảm ơn vì cuối tuần” She thanks her for the weekend in vietnamita and then adds in english: “I’m learning, so be patient with me. Enjoy your breakfast.” 

Her day at work is good. She feels collected about being back, she even made an appointment to see a therapist. 

Next day she goes to the university because she has an exam. She thinks she did well and that puts her in a good mood. But then she sees two guys disturbing Nile. They are saying something rude about being asexual, so she decides to interfere. 

“Hey, you two get out of here or I'm gonna complain to the principal” She tells them, calling them out on what they were doing.

“Who are you?” One of them asks, looking annoyed about the interruption.

“Someone you don’t want to mess with” She warns them. “And Nile’s friend” She adds, standing next to the young woman in a supportive way.

“Whatever” The other says, rolling his eyes. 

The two guys leave and Andy feels glad she’s not gonna have to fight them even harder. 

Then, she focuses her attention on Nile. She looks annoyed and tired. And Andy feels suddenly insecure about her intervention. Maybe Nile didn’t want her to help her, maybe in doing it she embarrassed her or something.

“Are you okay?” She asks, but she doesn’t get any answer. “Look, I'm sorry, if you overstep here…” She starts apologizing, but Nile stops her.

“It’s not that” Nile says, cutting her off. “Is just, it doesn’t bother you that i’m asexual? you don’t find me strange?” She asks, her voice shaking a little, like she’s trying not to cry.

“Of course it doesn’t bother me” She assures her. “You and everyone should be free to do wherever they want with their bodies and sexuallity. It’s your choice and it should be respect it” She expresses her opinion with confidence.

“I think you are probably the best captain I ever had” Nile confesses, smiling a little.

“But here, out of work, i’m not your boss or your captain. I’m just Andy.” She reminds her and caresses one of her shoulders in a comforting way. “Come one, i think after something like that you deserve to treat yourself.” She suggests.

Andy takes her to the Coffee & Book shop, because that’s a safe place for them. And she convinces Quynh to do some fries, because apparently that’s Nile’s favourite comfort food.

The following week is hard for Andy, because it’s her father’s death anniversary. She always feels bad on this day. She takes the day off from work and stays in bed, until Margot and Nicole video call her. 

“You still in bed?” Margot asks unimpressed. 

“Yep” She answers, prolonging the “p” in an annoying way knowing it will bother them.

“You have to get up, go to work or do something to keep you distracted” Margot advises her.

“I took the day off and i don’t want to get up, i want this day to stop existing” She complains.

“This day will be bad until you stop giving it that power” Nicole says thoughtfully. “Do we need to have the “it wasn’t your fault” conversation again? Because we will if you need it” She adds, looking concerned.

“No, I don’t have the energy for it” She denies.

“Then get up, take a shower and do something to make your day better” Nicole bosses her. 

“Fine” She agrees, getting out of the bed. “You’re both really annoying and I hate you right now” She grumbles.

“We love you too grumpy munching” Margot says laughing.

They end the call and Andy does what they have asked of her. She takes a shower, goes for a long walk in central park and then ends in the Coffee & Book shop. She collapses on a table and drinks a coffee without even paying attention to it.

She’s lost in her head and her memories, until Nile and Quynh surprise her a little when they join her on the table. 

“Are you okay?” Quynh asks, concerned.

“Yes” She answers, avoiding the truth.

“Come on, we know you better by now” Quynh challenges her.

“You helped me the other day, now let us help you” Nile tells her kindly. 

“It’s just a bad day, it’s the anniversary of my father’s death” She admits, after taking a long breath.

“That’s hard” Quynh states. 

“My dad died too, he was killed in action, he was a marine” Nile explains with some melancholy. “His anniversary is always hard, i miss him” She says.

“I’m sorry” She says, feeling bad for bringing her those memories.

“It’s okay” Nile dismisses her worries “What about yours? What happened?” She asks.

“Just an accident” She answers, avoiding eye contact with them because she feels very vulnerable about this topic.

“Tell you what, we’re gonna go home and have a movie night” Quynh proposes.

“What?” She asks, a little confused.

“It’s what we do when everytime one of us is sad or having a bad day” Quynh explains.

“Can we have junk food?” She asks and Quynh laughs. 

“Of course we can” Quynh assures her.

They all reunite in Quynh’s (and hers) apartment. They make popcorn with extra caramel and let her choose the movie. She usually doesn’t watch tv. So, she chooses “the old guard”, a movie she has already seen and it’s actually one of her favorites. She wants to see something that makes her happy and gives her comfort, and that she knows what will happen so if she can’t pay attention she won’t become anxious. 

They all love the movie and thank her for introducing it to them. They all feel happy about the good representation. Joe and Nicky are very amused and fascinated about the gay couple.

Before they can start a new movie, Andy goes to the bathroom. When she goes out, she finds Quynh in the hallway.

“How you doing?” Quynh asks her, looking at her with care.

“Better” She answers honestly. “Thank you for this, it was a good idea” She tells her.

“You’re welcome” Quynh says.

Quynh gives her a smile that looks so bright, that Andy thinks: this is it, this is the moment i finally kiss her. She puts Quynh’s hair very softly behind her ears and then leans in to her, to separate the little space that keeps them apart. 

But before their lips can touch, Booker falls between them spilling some beer he has with him. They all laugh about it, because he falled in a very funny way. 

“What’s taking you both so long?” He asks them curiously, as they help him stand up.

“Nothing, just taking turns in using the bathroom” Quynh answers.

“Then come on, hurry up, we already chose the next movie” He insists.

Then they go back to the living room and start a new movie. Andy can’t concentrate in the movie though, she just keeps looking at Quynh, appreciating how wonderful she is in and out. Lookin at her, the world seems a better place.


	13. Chapter 13

Quynh doesn’t hear the alarm, so she wakes up late. She freaks out for like five minutes, until she sees Booker’s text message saying she could take her time this morning, that he was going to handle things at the Coffee & Book shop.

She takes a quick shower and when she is almost out of the apartment something gets her attention. It seems like Andy has left breakfast for her. She verifies it when she finds her note. 

Quynh almost has a breakdown when she sees the note. Andy is learning vietnamisse. No one has ever done that for her and somehow it feels very important that she’s doing it. 

“You can’t tell me that is not a big deal, because it is. She’s learning your language for you” Booker tells her, after she told him everything about her morning. 

“I know” She nods, taking a long breath.

“You like her” He states, already knowing he’s right. “What are you going to do about it?” Then asks, because he thinks that both women like each other but are ignoring it.

“Nothing” She answers.

“Why? Don’t you think it’s worth it?” He questions her. 

“I don’t know, we are roommates, I don’t want to complicate things between us or make it awkward” She admits. 

“But things can be good too, you can be happy” He tries to debate about her decision. 

“You sound like Joe” She kinda jokes, to make the deal less heavy on her. 

“For this situation, I’m gonna take it as a compliment” He says, with a little smile. 

“What about you? How things are going with James?” She asks, changing the center of the conversation to him.

So Booker tells her about his last date with James Copley. This is the first time that he is dating a man exclusively. He is still a little nervous about it, but he is enjoying it and actually feels happy. Quynh does not know James very much, but for what she knows he is a good guy. She is happy for them.

The week passes quickly, they have so much work that she doesn’t have much time to think of anything else. 

And then she’s having a movie night with her friends, because that’s what they do when someone has a bad day. This time it’s Andy. It’s her father's death anniversary. Andy doesn’t give much details about it, and Quynh feels there’s more about the story to tell. But she’s not gonna pressure the other to talk if she doesn’t want to. She’s gonna talk when she’s ready to do it. 

And that’s why she had offered her the movie night plan. It is in a way of telling Andy that she can be part of the group too if she wants. 

“How you doing?” She asks Andy, when she goes to the bathroom and finds the other in the hallway.

“Better” Andy answers honestly. “Thank you for this, it was a good idea” She tells her.

“You’re welcome” She says, smiling because she feels happy that her movie night idea has made her feel better.

In that moment Andy looks at her in a special way. She looks at her like she’s the most fascinating thing in the universe, and if she has to be honest with herself it feels good, it's flattery. Andy caresses her hair with a tenderness she didn’t know the other had in her. This is it, this is the moment she thinks they are going to kiss. Andy is gonna be the one who takes the first step.

But then Booker interrupts them, and they never talk about that moment again. At least for now, and it’s been two weeks since it, not that Quynh is counting or daydreaming about how it would be anyway.

“How was your exam?” Quynh asks Nicky, as they meet in the park of the university.

“Very well I think” He answers.

“Good” She says, feeling proud of him. “Now come on, let’s go have a coffee and eat something, i’m hungry” She suggests. 

They go to the university’s buffet and they meet with Andy, Booker, Joe and Nile there. They all have coffee and eat some sweet things. It’s been a week of exams for everyone, so it feels good that now they have a moment to be free and relax.

“Andy” Says a man, coming to stand next to their table.

“Keane” Andy says, tensing about the unexpected meeting. 

Quynh thinks that probably gets everyone's attention on Andy. She is not a person who tensed up in the presence of others, but it seems this man had hit a burden. 

“It’s good to see you” Keane says, looking intensely at Andy.

“I wish i could say the same, but we both know that would be a lie” Andy says in a serious way. “What are you doing here? She asks. 

“I came to have a coffee” Keane answers, showing the coffee he is carrying. “Then I saw you here and I thought it would be nice to say hello” He says, sounding ironic.

“Well, you shouldn’t” Andy states. “I still have the restriction order against you” She reminds him.

Restriction order? That sets off all the alarms inside of Quynh. Because wherever happened between them must be bad if it ended in a restriction order. She watches Keane very carefully, trying to get all his details. What did this man do to Andy to make her demand a restriction order against him?

“The only reason you got that order it’s because Nicole is a lawyer” Keane accuses Andy, in a rude way. 

“I got a restriction order because you’re a stalker and you hit me” Andy says, unimpressed at his accusation. 

He hit her? Quynh feels furious about that revelation and she can sense her friends feel the same way. They are all very protective and Andy has already won their trust and careness. They shared a look of understanding, getting ready to intervene in the situation if it’s needed. 

“But I'm the one who ended with a broken nose” Keane reproaches her, annoyed. 

“It was self defense” Andy justifies. 

“It’s that what you tell yourself? Just like with your father, right?” Keane asks her, knowing exactly how to hurt her.

That gets Quynh’s attention once more. What did Andy’s father have to do with this? Before anyone can react, Andy is standing up from her chair in an abrupt manner. Quynh can see how angry, hurt and sad she is, all at the same time. 

“Stay away from me” Andy warns Keane, pushing him out of her way. 

And just like that Andy leaves the buffet. She does it so quickly that it leaves everyone a little surprised and confused. 

Keane is ready to follow her, but they all stand up at the same time to stop him.

“She’s not asking” Joe tells Keane in an intimidating way. 

“Stay away from her” Nicky repeats what Andy had asked, not letting Keane pass.

Quynh is still worried about Andy, but the situation makes her smile. She loves that her friends are this protective. 

“You all should stay away from her, she’s a murderer” Keane accuses and makes his way out of their table to escape the situation. 

Murderer? That’s a hard and strong accusation. 

They all sit down again and stay in silence for some long minutes. Quynh can’t stop her mind, she can’t stop thinking about everything that just happened and Andy… Where did she go? Is she okay? Is she really a murderer? What the hell just happened?

“I found it” Booker tells them, getting everyone's attention. “It seems like Andy’s father tried to kill her and her mom, and in the fight he ended up dead” He informs, reading from his cellphone.

Booker shows them the news he had found in a South African newspaper. It is one of the first things google shows when he searched for “Andy Scythian”. According to the news, Andy was only ten when that happened.

Damm. Now what?


	14. Chapter 14

Andy can’t believe her life is ruined again. In reality she shouldn’t be that surprised, the story of her life is constantly being a mess. 

She is probably overreacting a little, but the meeting with Keane had that effect. They had one bad date long ago. She rejected him, but he kept insisting and stalking her. She ignored him, until one day he attacked her. She hit him back to defend herself, so her sister Nicole got her a restriction order against him. 

She doesn’t care about Keane though, she cares about her life in New York. She likes the friends she is making here. She loves living with Quynh and going to her shop to have coffee and sweets. She likes working with Joe, Nicky and Nile. She likes how brave and loyal they are. She likes having intellectual debates about books with Booker. She likes all of them.

But now she is going to lose them. They know she is a murderer. Keane probably told them about her father after she left. There is no coming back from that. Who would want to be friends with someone like her? 

She enters the apartment she shares with Quynh and lets herself break down, she cries for like five minutes. The best thing she can do is move out, so she starts packing her things. She collects her stuff in some boxes and a suitcase.

She is finishing emptying her closet, when she hears the door open.

“Andy” Quynh calls for her. “Are you here?” She asks.

“Andy” The others are calling for her too.

Andy freezes. She doesn’t know what to do, this is not what she expected… them coming for her… For what? What's the point? 

She takes a couple of deep breaths to try to calm herself, but the door of her room gets open and suddenly everyone is there, invading her space. She feels like her heart it’s gonna stop. What now?

“Andy, you are here” Quynh says, sounding relieved that she found her. “What are you doing?” She asks a little shocked, now that she saw all of her things being packed.

“I’m moving” She answers drily, like it should have been obvious. 

“Why?” Quynh asks, looking horrified and hurt about that idea.

“Why?” She repeats, frustrated about the fact that they are going to have this conversation. “After what happened with Keane, you shouldn’t want me here” She explains her reasoning.

“But I do” Quynh says, without even taking a minute to think about it.

“We all do” Joe adds, supporting her friend.

She can’t believe this. Are they serious about this or are they joking with her? She looks at them, one for one. She considers what she sees in them: understanding, worry, empathy, wonder… but not hate or judgement. How is that possible? 

“Why?” It’s her turn to ask, because she doesn’t understand what’s happening. “I’m a murderer” She reminds them, trying to push them away.

“No, you’re not” Nicky denays.

“It was self defense” Nile says with confidence.

That means they google her and she is not sure how to feel about that. Actually she is not sure about how to feel with anything of all these. Lot of people who had googled her and learned about her past had rejected her, but they were doing the opposite. 

“You shouldn’t deal with all that quilt about it” Booker gives his opinion.

“But, what about Keane?” She asks, not understanding how they are not judging her.

“He is an asshole” Joe answers.

“We are on your side” Quynh tells her softly.

And that is how she breaks. She gives some punches to the wall to discharge all the pain these topics bring to her. Is not enough though, so she sits on the floor and just starts crying. 

They come to her then. They hug her and stay with her until her breakdown ends. 

She doesn’t move out.

She has found a new family in them and for the first time she feels like New York could become her home, that she did well on choosing to do her master here.

A month passes and she feels happy. 

She is still living with Quynh and she loves it. After all the mess with Keane they become closer than before. 

She loves her job. She is enjoying being the captain, learning that she feels confident in a leader role. She loves working with Joe, Nile and -sometimes- Nicky. She likes teaching them things and learning from them. All the moments she spends with them are easy and comfortable. 

Maybe that is how she finds herself in the current situation, because Joe is one of the few people that can convince her of doing anything. She is posing for him. He is making a painting of her. 

Quynh is enjoying the situation, having fun with it and making jokes about how Joe is making her look like an amazon warrior. She is cooking some kind of dessert while she watches them. 

Suddenly the bells rings. Quynh goes so the painting session doesn't get interrupted.

“For you” Quynh tells her, giving her a packet. 

“Thanks” She says, taking the packet.

She smiles when she sees it’s from her sister Margot. She opens it and finds a letter with some invitations from her movie premiere. She feels so proud of her sister for following her dreams that she could almost cry about it. 

“So?” Joe asks curiously, getting her attention. 

“It’s from Margot, my sister, she’s inviting me to the premiere of a movie she got to act in” She answers him. “Maybe I should take some free days, two days after the premiere is Nicole’s birthday” she says, thinking out loud.

“That’s nice, I wish i could have some free days too” Quynh says, in a dreaming way.

Should she ask her to go with her? It could be nice and fun to have like a mini vacation together. She is used to being and traveling alone, but now she is also used to living with Quynh. She remembers how Quynh invited her to Joe’s family countryside and smiles. Maybe this time is her turn to do the invitation, and she is sure her sisters will love Quynh.

“Well you can come with me if you want to” She offers her.

“What? Are you being serious?” Quynh asks, looking really surprised.

“Of course” She answers her. “She gave me more than one ticket” She says as she shows her the invitations of the premiere.

“But it's a family thing” Quynh tries to argue.

“You are my friend, that means you are family” She justifies. “So, if you want to come you are welcome” She adds, trying not to push too much because she doesn’t want to make Quynh feel uncomfortable.

“I think I would like that, I’m gonna talk to Booker about it and see if I can join you” Quynh says, a little thoughtful. 

After that they go back to what they were doing, until Joe finally ends his painting.

“Woow, it’s amazing” She prices Joe, as she examines the painting. “You made me look beautiful and badass at the same time” She says, appreciating how good he made her look.

Joe had painted her as an amazon warrior. It looks like her, but at the same time it doesn’t. It makes her feel powerful in a strange way, that he could see her like this. She tries to imagine what it must have felt to be a warrior like those women were, but she can’t come with an exact feeling.

“You are beautiful and badass boss” Joe corrects her, gaining her attention back.

“Maybe next time you should paint her with the firefighter suit” Quynh suggests, making them laugh.

A week later Quynh tells her she’s going with her to Los Angeles, to Margot’s premiere and Nicole’s birthday. 

Two weeks after they are taking a plane together. In the flight Andy learns Quynh hates flying. She spends most of the time sleeping or grabbing her hand so hard she thinks it could break one of her fingers. She doesn’t care though, not as long it helps Quynh feel calmer. 

In the airport her sisters are waiting for her with lather, colorful paintings and balloons. They attack her with it at the first moment they see her. They laugh and fight, and a guard has to kick them out for disturbance. They are a chaotic mess, that probably acts more like children than adults when they’re together. 

“I miss you both so much” Nicole tells them. The way she is hugging them makes it seem like they have been apart for years and not months. 

“Hey, it’s not like we went to war or something” She protests, thinking about Lykon.

“Yes, some of us have mundan boring jobs” Margot adds, kinda agreeing with her. 

“You could work in Chicago” Nicole reminds them. 

“We could” She accepts. “But each one of us has to follow their own way” She gives her opinion.

“And we’re not here to fight, we just got reunited” Margot says hopefully. 

“Okay, you are both right” Nicole nods. “Truce” She promises. 

They share a smile and that is when Andy realises Quynh is still there, looking at them. She seems happy with just looking at them, but now she is self conscious about how messy all these must look. Three women full of painting and lather, making a scene in and out of the airport. 

“Sorry you have to witness this” She apologizes to Quynh. “Our family is not very good with separations, so we make big deals about the reunions” She explains.

That’s something Lykon and her have been doing since she can remember. The foster system made them spend periods of time separated sometimes, so when they got together again they would celebrate with a multicolor painting war. They passed along that habit to Margot and Nicole and it stuck with them. 

“It’s okay, you don’t need to apologize” Quynh assures her. “It was actually very entertaining to see” She says, looking at her in a special way.

“So, these are my sisters: Nicole and Margot” She presents her sisters to Quynh. “This is Quynh, my friend and roommate” She presents her. 

“A pleasure to meet you” Quynh tells her sisters, offering her hand.

Margot and Nicole ignore her hand and go to give her cheek kisses instead. She laughs at that, her sisters can be a lot sometimes but she wouldn’t change them for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, is time for Quynh to meet Andy's family.
> 
> Random info: The welcome with painting in the airport was inspired by real life, I actually saw a group of friends doing that in an airport once and I thought it would be funny for Andy to have that kinda energy with her sisters and brother.


	15. Chapter 15

Quynh doesn’t know what to do. Andy has invited her to her trip to Los Angeles, but she still hasn't given her an answer. Should she go or should she stay in New York? Does she want to meet Andy’s sisters or does she want to have some time apart from her roommate?

“What are you thinking so hard?” Booker asks her, getting her attention. 

“About Andy’s invitation to LA” She answers honestly, if not she’s sure he would figure her out anyway. 

“I think it was a yes from the beginning, you should go” He tells her, surprised she was still thinking about it. 

“I don’t know, maybe she invited me out of compromise, her sisters…” She starts rumbling her thoughts. 

“She doesn’t care that her sisters are gonna be there, that you are gonna meet them” He interrupts her. “And Andy is not a person who does things she doesn’t want to, so if she invited you is because she wanted you to go with her” He says, trying to make her reason.

“Maybe” She says, absorbing his opinion and realizing he’s probably right.

“She wants you to meet her sisters, you know that’s girlfriend material right?” He teases her, to get her to relax.

“Hey, stop” She warns him, feeling annoyed and warm at the same time.

“Fine” He accepts. “But really, it can’t be that bad and having some days free from work is gonna make you good” He states.

At the end of the day she comes to the conclusion that Booker is right. Free days from work sound great and she has never been to LA. And the time she spends with Andy is always comfortable, so this could be a good opportunity. 

That’s how she ends up agreeing to Andy's proposal.

Quynh hates flying, but with Andy it’s not that bad. She uses her shoulder as a pillow when she sleeps and she can grab her hand when she’s scared. Andy is so relaxed that it’s almost contagious. 

“Just to warn you, when we are reunionated with my sisters we can be a lot” Andy tells her as they look for their package. 

“That’s fine” She accepts. 

“You said that now because you haven’t seen us together yet” Andy says, sounding a little challenging.

Margot and Nicole welcome Andy throwing her multicolor painting and lather. The three together are loud and laugh a lot. And yes, as Quynh sees the scene she can get why Andy said they were a lot. 

But it is actually nice. Maybe she should pass that reunion costume to her friends. And this is a side of Andy she hasn't seen before, her childish side. It makes Quynh happy that Andy still has part of this spirit with her even after all the pain she has been through in her life.

They get to Margot’s car and they start their long way. They go to shower and put on clean clothes, they meet Jess -Margot’s girlfriend- and go shopping, and at night to the movie premiere. The movie is very good and fun. It receives good critics so is a nice start for Margot. Then they go to dinner. So, when they finally get to sleep it is really late.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to sleep on the couch?” She offers to Andy.

Nicole has left to spend the night in a hotel with her husband. Andy and Quynh stayed in Margot’s apartment. Margot gave them the spare room, but it only has one bed. 

“Yes, stop worrying about it, i’m sure” Andy answers. “But if you don’t feel comfortable with this, i’d be the one sleeping on the couch because i’m the one who invited you” She says, giving her a way out of the situation if she wants it.

She thinks Andy is the cutest in her sleep clothes. She is wearing a fluffy short and a t-shirt that looks too old and it’s big on her. She thinks it’s probably from her brother because it has the USA’s army logo.

“It’s okay, we can both sleep here” She says, and finally joins Andy on the bed.

Andy falls asleep as quickly as they turn down the lights. She has already learned that this woman can sleep everywhere and through everything, she kinda admires that. She takes time to look at her, taking everything she can to remember. How she breathes, how she moves, how she dreams… And she falls asleep as she does that.

When she wakes up she finds that she is hugging Andy. For a moment she panics because she is afraid of being intruding and imposing on her. But then she looks at Andy and she finds that she is really relaxed and seems to be enjoying the closeness. She tries to enjoy the intimacy of the moment for a while, but she gets up before Andy can wake up. 

They spend all day touring around the city. Margot takes them to all her favorite spots and to the tourist attractions. For dinner they go to Margot’s apartment and they request Andy to cook deruny.

“I didn’t know you could cook” She tells Andy, surprised at how comfortable the other is in the kitchen she is.

“Well now you know” Andy says simply.

“Then why do you eat like a child?” Quynh asks her, making Andy’s sisters laugh.

“Just because I can cook doesn’t mean I have to like it or do it all the time” Andy answers, kinda explains her reasons.

“She lives for junk food” Margot tells her.

“And sweets, don’t forget her sweet tooths” Nicole adds.

“Still she cooks really well, you’re gonna love deruny” Margot assures her.

Quynh learns that deruny is a typical ucranian dish. They are potato pancakes and they actually are eaten on breakfast, but because Margot and Nicole were missing their sister’s food they have it for dinner. Quynh likes them and thinks Andy is a good enough cook. 

After dinner she helps Nicole to do the washing up, wanting to make herself useful and help in something as gratitude. 

“Do you like her?” Nicole suddenly asks her.

“What?” She asks, a little confused. Is she really that obvious? 

“I want to know if you like her enough to be there for her if she needs you” Nicole clarifies what she had meant.

“I do” She nods. “She is my friend and she has become an important person to me since we live together” She tries to express how she sees their relationship.

“Good” Nicole acepts, finally relaxing again. “She might be strong and act all tough, but even she needs people to take care of her” She justifies where she was coming from to do the indagatory. 

“She has me, and she has Joe, Nicky, Nile, Booker. We all love her” She assures her. 

“Thank you” Nicole says, looking relieved to know that.

The next day is Nicole’s birthday, so they go to spend the day at the beach because that’s what she wants to do. They drive to Santa Monica. On the drive Margot and Nicole tell stories about when they were kids and lived in Australia. They both love the beach.

Andy is wearing a plain black bikini. She’s all fit and muscles, and has some scars around her body, probably from fires. She looks so good that she can’t stop looking at her. She doesn’t know which world would define her better: hot or badass, rockstar or amazon warrior. 

“She is hot, isn’t she?” Margot says, scaring her a little because she has been that distracted.

“Yes, she is” She nods. And she chose to go with the truth, because the way she has been looking at Andy probably says it all already.

“She likes you too” Margot states, surprising her. And Quynh wonders if she is right or if it’s just her opinion. “Have you slept with each other?” She asks curiously.

“No, we’re not, that’s not our kind of relationship” She answers honestly and she hopes the other believes her, even if she’s dragging her words. “We are roommates and friends” She assures her.

“If she hasn't slept with you yet, then that means she really cares about you” Margot tells her in an informative way.

They get interrupted and Quynh is a little glad about it. Andy’s sisters are a little intimidating. They are fun, kind, loud and loose. But they are also very protective with Andy, their love can be felt radiating from them in every interaction.

The next day it’s time for Andy and Quynh to go back to New York and Nicole and Keith to Chicago. The farewell is a little hard and emotional, with a lot of hugs. Quynh just hoped she left a good impression and Andy’s sisters like her enough. The flight is quiet and this time is Andy who hangs out to Quynh’s hand like her life depends on it. But this time it’s not about fear, it’s about the effects of separations.

The week starts good after their free days. Quynh have loved their little vacations and change of air. On thursday she convinces everyone that Andy should cook for them, she has to have a turn too because she is now part of their group.

Andy cooks nalysnyky and they all love it. They have a great time telling their friends all they did in Los Angeles. 

Andy and Nile are doing the washing up when the bell rings. Quynh gets surprised about it, they are not expecting anyone else, nor they asked for anything. She opens the door and finds a tall black man on the other side that she has never seen in her life. He looks familiar, but she is not sure why.

“Can i help you?” She asks him.

“Does Andromache live here?” He requests to know. 

“No, sorry i don’t know anyone with that name” She answers.

She is ready to close the door but the stranger stops her, grabbing the door with his hand.

“Aren’t you Quynh?” He asks, looking at her like he recognizes her.

“How do you know?” She asks back.

“Lykon?” Andy asks, interrupting them.

“Yes, it’s me Andromache” He answers, all his attention focused on the person he was looking for. 

Andromache. That’s Andy’s name, the one she doesn’t like and doesn’t use. Interesting. It really sounds like the name of a greek goddess or something mythological.

“Are you really back?” Andy asks, sounding a little scared.

“Yes, I'm back definitely” Lykon informs her, gaining a smile in return.

They run to each other and come crushing in a big hug. Lykon pulls Andy off her feets and makes her spin. They are both laughing so extremely happy about their reunion that it’s contagious.

So, this is Lykon. She had met her sisters a few days ago, it seems that now it’s time to know her brother.


	16. Chapter 16

Andy loved the time she spent with her sisters. They had so much fun together, and they also had private moments. They’ve talked about everything and nothing, and they both gave her their opinions about Quynh. She is glad that her sisters loved her and realised she’s important to her. They even motivated her to express her feelings to Quynh. 

Still, she’s not sure what to do about it, but she is getting there. She really liked that Quynh came with her and the time they enjoyed together. It was a very good trip.

“Are you okay?” Quynh asks her, as they unpacked their baggage.

“Yes, is just separations are hard, i’m gonna miss them” She admits, feeling a little melancholic over it. 

“Is okay to miss them” Quynh valids her feelings and that makes her relieved. 

“Do you miss your family?” She asks with curiosity. 

Quynh never talks about her family and that makes her wonder about it. She thinks that Quynh has been learning things about her family and she likes how that has been going, so she would like to know about her family too.

“Sometimes” Quynh answers, looking a little unsure. 

“It’s okay, you don’t need to talk about them if you don’t want to. Don’t feel pressure to do it because I asked, I was just curious” She assures her, because she doesn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.

Quynh sits down in one of the couches and points out to her to do the same. Andy does without any complaint and waits for her to be ready to do whatever she needs. She sees Quynh take a deep breath and then she starts talking...

“My dad and mom are still living in Vietnam and my brother lives in Thailand. My parents, they were okay with me being a lesbian as long as I wouldn’t make it something big or too public” Quynh starts her tale. “But my brother and cousins never accept it, they would always make me bad jokes and aggressive comments. My parents never defend me, so i guess I come to resent them a little”

“I understand” She nods. “Must be hard” She adds, trying to figure out the situation.

“It is” Quynh agrees with her. “Anyway, I haven't seen them since I came to live to USA. They’ve never asked me to visit them or come back, so I never found a reason to go back either even though I miss my country” She explains sadly.

“Well if you ever want to go back to Vietnam I can go with you, we can go to all your favorites places and not visit them” She suggests, trying to light the mood a little.

“Maybe” Quynh accepts, giving her a little smile. “I’m glad I came here though, because here I gained a real family who accepts me and loves me as I am” She adds, referring to her group of friends.

“Yes, you and them, all of you are pretty great” She says honestly, glad that they’ve welcomed her to the group in such a warm way.

“Well I think you are pretty great too” Quynh tells her.

Quynh rests her head on her shoulder and Andy takes the opportunity to hug her. She plays with her hair in a calming way and caresses her back. They stay like that until they feel too tired and all they want is to sleep.

The week starts good. She feels energetic and uses it at her advantage to work hard. She spends a lot of time with Joe, Nile and Nicky. She loves working with them, they always make her feel like team work is easy and worthy.

On thursday Quynh convinces all her friends that Andy should be the one to do the cooking. They agree with her, curious to get to know her ukrainian culinary side. She makes nalysnyky and is glad that they all seem to love it. 

When she is doing the washing up with Nile, the bell rings. She doesn’t pay attention to it, knowing that Quynh will take care of it. But then she hears a familiar voice that makes her freeze. She goes to the door and sees she was right.

“Lykon?” She asks, interrupting Lykon’s and Quynh’s conversation.

“Yes, it’s me Andromache” He answers, all his attention focused on her. 

“Are you really back?” She asks, sounding a little scared.

“Yes, I'm back definitely” He informs her, giving her a sweet smile.

They run to each other and come crushing in a big hug. Lykon pulls Andy off her feets and makes her spin, just the way he knows she always loved. They are both laughing, so extremely happy to be together again.

Then, she remembers how their reunions are. She doesn’t have painting because she wasn’t ready for this, so she has to improvise. She goes to the cupboard, grabbes eggs and flour, and starts throwing everything at his brother. He doesn’t fight her, he just accepts his situation and keeps laughing. 

“You should take a shower” She suggests, after she had enough of staining him. 

“What about clothes?” He asks, because he has left his baggage in the hotel.

“Y might have something of you in my wardrobe” She says and they laugh because of course she has. They’ve always liked to share clothes.

Lykon goes to have a shower and she goes to clean the mess she has made. That’s when she remembers her friends are there. She finds them looking at her in a happy way, like they have been having fun with the situation and that makes her relax.

“That’s your brother?” Nile is the first one to talk.

“He is” She answers with a proud smile.

“He seems nice” Joe says, gaining a knock from Nicky in his head.

“So, what about the food war?” Booker asks her with curiosity, 

“That’s how they reunite, but they actually do it with colorful painting, the food was an improvisation” Quynh explains for her. 

“What she said” She says with a big smile, after all the others give her questioning looks.

“We should incorporate it” Quynh proposes to her friends.

“Yes, I like the idea” Joe agrees with her.

“I prefer other kinds of paintings” Nicky tells Joe playfully, making all of them complain and laugh at the same time. 

“So, Andromache” Quynh says, focusing her attention on her once again.

“Yes?” She asks.

“That’s your name, Andromache” Quynh states, amazed by the name.

“It is.” She nods.

“I like it, sounds like the name of an ancient warrior or a goddess.” Quyng appreciates, looking at her with a strange intensity.

“It’s greek and it was the name of Hector of Troy’s wife” Booker intervenes, sharing the information he knew about the name’s origin.

“Yes.” She agrees. “And it means: she who fight men in battle and wins” She ads.

“I don’t know why you don’t like it Andromache, it fits you” Quynh tells her.

And that’s maybe the first time she considers liking her name, because the way it sounds in Quynh’s voice is just beautiful. 

Once Lykon is ready, they both go to her room and have a very needed and wanted talk. Lykon explains to her that he has fulfilled his required field work for the army, that now he can choose to stay back, to do office or training work. They laugh, they cry, and they hug each other a lot.

“So you are really back” She repeats, still can’t believe that she has him back.

“I am” He nods.

“When are you going to Chicago?” She asks. She doesn’t want to be separated from him again, but she knows Chicago is his home.

“I’m not, I’m staying here, in New York.” He answers her very calmly. 

“What?” She says, totally surprised. “But Chicago is your home” She reminds him.

“No, it's not” He denies. “You are my home” He corrects her and she feels her heart so warm after that statement that she’s scared she’s going to pass out and realizes it was all a dream.

“Are you sure?” She asks, hating herself for sounding a little broken at that. She doesn’t want to condition him in his decisions, but she needs to know what to expect to be ready.

“Never been sure of anything more in my life” He assures her. “Also, I already have a job” He informs her, sounding very proud of himself.

They called Nicole and Margot and shared the news with them. After the video call ends, they stay talking until very late in the night, until they both fall asleep together. 

In the morning she feels really tired and she knows her work shift it’s going to feel like hell. But she doesn’t care. She is too happy to care. She has her brother back with her.

“You look happy” Quynh tells her, as she finds her making breakfast.

“I am” She nods.

“Good” Quynh accepts. “I’m happy for you” She says, giving her a smile.

That’s it, she is going to kiss her. 

She is ready for this. She likes her, more than the liking of like. She is falling in love with her. This is her time and she is going to be brave about it. 

She takes a step closer to her, but before she can make a move her cell phone rings. 

It’s work. There’s a big fire and they need her.

Seems like every time she decides to finally kiss her, she gets interrupted. The irony isn’t lost in her. Should she take it like a destiny sign or go with her ‘ain't life a bitch sometimes’ moto?


	17. Chapter 17

Quynh is happy. Andy’s happiness makes her happy. Lykon is back and that makes Andy very happy. She can feel the love between them and it’s so calming that it warms her heart and her soul. 

“Andromache?” Lykon asks her, as he joins her in the kitchen.

She smiles at the mention of that name. She has to make an effort to remember that it is Andy’s name. She thinks the name fits iconically to the woman she is falling in love with and finds it a little funny the way her name has progressed to her. First it was A, then it was Andy, and now is Andromache.

“Just left for work, there is a bad fire.” She answers.

“Okay.” Lykon nods. “Want some help?” He asks, pointing out the breakfast Andy’s has left half done.

“That actually sounds great.” She agrees.

They finished cooking breakfast together. Then they eat and talk, enjoying the chance to get to know each other. 

“I think you’re good for her.” He suddenly tells her, surprising her.

“What?” She asked, confused.

“To Andy, you are good for her. I can understand now why she is in love with you.” He explains calmly. 

“She is in love with me?” She asks, totally astonished. She can’t believe what she is hearing.

“Just like you are with her.” He answers, like it’s the obvious thing he could say. “Your friends are good too, you are all good. Andy has lonely tendencies, so I’m glad she has all of you.” He adds, honestly. 

After that, Lykon becomes a thing too. He starts joining their group's reunion. And is actually nice, because he fits perfectly in their group dynamic, and he is funny and charming. He has this chill aura that immediately makes everyone relax and it feels refreshing. 

And she can’t stop thinking about what he had said to her. Was he right? Was Andy in love with her too? Maybe it was time to finally risk it all.

“So, you are going to Chicago?” She asks Andy, trying not to sound too disappointed about it.

“Yes, with Lykon. We are going to spend thanksgiving with our sisters and then come back.” Andy answers her.

“That sounds nice.” She says, putting effort in sounding excited. 

“Yes.” Andy agrees with her. “What about you?” She asks.

“I’m spending it with the guys, we’re probably going to Joe’s family countryside.” She informs her gladly, she is grateful to have them in her life.

“Well, I'm gonna be here for christmas and new year, so maybe we can do something for that.” Andy offers her, apparently figuring out that she’s disappointed about her not being there for thanksgiving.

“That’s a good idea.” She nods, finally smiling. “Ohh, I was thinking you could go to Chicago with Nile, she always goes there to spend thanksgiving with her family.” She says it like a suggestion, but she really hopes it works because Nile doesn’t like traveling alone by plane. She’s like her on that.

“Of course, i’m going to call her.” Andy says, picking up her phone.

Quynh watches her talk with Nile and feels herself get soft. She is glad this woman is part of her life and her friend’s lives. 

Thanksgiving comes before she can think too much of it. She’s happy to be with Booker, Joe and Nicky, in Joe’s family countryside. It’s beautiful and Joe’s family always do a great deal about decorations and having the best food. 

But she misses Andy. She wishes she could be here too. She knows it is a little selfish of her to wish that, but she can’t help it.

“I’m grateful for Joe, for our wedding plans that are finally coming to be accomplished. I’m grateful for all of my friends, they are family to me and they mean the world to have them in my life.” Nicky says, in his turn to give thanks.

“I’m grateful for the love of my life” Joe continues after Nicky, making them all laugh. “I’m glad about our wedding, about our friends who have supported us and helped us. I’m thankful for you mom and dad, all your support has been essential for my identiti. And I’m thankful for the new friends I made this year.” He says happily. 

“I’m grateful for the new people in my life: James, Andy, Lykon. And I’m thankful for my friends, you are family to me” Booker says simply.

“I’m thankful for all of you my boys and for Nile, you are all the best I have in my life. I’m thankful for the Al-Kaysany family that always welcomes us to their home” She says, giving smiles to all of her friends to show her love. “And I’m thankful for Andy, for having such a great roommate that is also a great friend and a very important person in my life. “ She adds, feeling a little emotional thinking about everything they’ve been through since they met.

She thinks they all can tell she misses Andy after that. 

“Missing Andy?” Booker asks her.

“How do you know?” She asks, a little defensive and he just gives her a face that says ‘we have known each other for a long time’ and he’s right. “Okay, yes, I'm thinking about her” She admits.

“Is nice to hear you say that” He says with an approving smile. “Are you planning any holiday love confession?” He asks, teasing her.

“No, I don't know, it all just feels too cheesy” She says, expressing her frustrations. “What about you? How are things with James?” she asks him back, so she can focus on other things that do not include Andy on them.

“Great, I invited him to have christmas and new year with us” He answers excitedly.

“That’s good” She accepts, she likes seeing him happily in love. 

“We’re actually trying something with Lykon” He says, looking a little shy about it.

“What do you mean?” She is surprised, but she wants to know. 

“That we are including him in our relationship, in a romantic way” He explains.

“You mean like a polyamourus relationship?” She asks, needing to put it on words to know that she’s getting it right.

“Yes” He nods. 

“Woow, that’s woow, I wasn't expecting that” She says, still a little amazed by the revelation. “That’s okay” She valids him, feeling like he needs that to relax.

“Really?” He asks. 

“As long as you’re happy” She assured him. 

“I love you” He says, hugging her.

“I love you too” She says, hugging him back.

Before Qynh can keep track of the time and the days, thanksgiving is over and christmas is here. 

She was thinking about finally confessing her love to Andy, thinking it could be a good present if the other reciprocates her feelings. But it seems christmas is not the best time after all. 

They have closed the coffee & book shop just for them. They are just starting dinner, when Andy, Joe and Nile are called to help in a big fire. People, firecrackers and fireworks are not a good combination. That’s why her friends don’t like holidays that much. 

She stays with Booker, James, Lykon and Nicky. They try to wait for the others to come back, but when it’s four am and they still haven’t returned they give up and decide to go to sleep. 

It’s after she wakes up and exchanges presents with her friends, that an idea comes to her mind. 

“What if we spend the new year at the fire station?” She suggests to her friends.

“What? Why would we do that?” Nile asks, confused at the idea.

“So in case there are fires and accidents, we would be there. And everytime you come back to the station we could spend time together” She explains her reasoning.

“That actually sounds like a good idea” Joe approves. “Boss?” He asks, wanting her to be okay with this before they plan anything. 

“Yes, I agree” Andy nods.

“Can we decorate?” Nile asks, looking suddenly very excited.

“Of course we can” Andy assures her, smiling at her enthusiasm.

And that’s how they plan new year’s dinner at the fire station. They decorate everything with lights and a vintage theme. Andy lets all the people on her squad who are on work shift that night invite their families. So they end up being a very large group of people. But it is nice, they are kind and they are all enjoying each other's company. 

They have dinner without interruptions. Then, there’s some little accidents. But they take turns, and they are back quickly. The festive mood just remains intact. 

And when the clock finally points out the beginning of the new year and they all celebrate making a toast, Quyng thinks maybe this is the moment.

Seems like Andy has the same idea that she was just thinking, because she’s suddenly taking her by the hand and guiding her to a quiet corner. 

“Chúc mừng năm mới” Andy wishes her happy new year in vietnamese and she feels her heart stop at that. 

“Chúc mừng năm mới vui vẻ” Quynh wishes back. “Bạn nói tiếng Việt tốt, tôi thích nó” She says that she sounds good in vietnamese, that she likes it. She’s kinda testing her to see how much she has learned.

Quynh looks at Andy and appreciates the way she laughs. At that moment she is sure she could hear her laugh all day and never get tired of it. She’s so beautiful when she laughs.

“I think we should start the new year doing something we want” Andy tells her, bringing her back to the present.

“What do you want to do?” She asks, curiously, but kinda suspecting she already knew the answer.

“I think you know” Andy answers her, giving her a sincere smile.

And then Andy kisses her. 

All Quynh can think as she kisses Andy back is that she is right. The best way to start a new year is doing something you want to do. And more when is something it's been a long time coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chúc mừng năm mới: happy new year
> 
> Chúc mừng năm mới vui vẻ: happy new year for you too
> 
> Bạn nói tiếng Việt tốt, tôi thích nó: You speak vietnamese well, I love it
> 
> I don't know how accurate the translates are, I'm using google for them. If someone finds a mistake, please let me know.


	18. Chapter 18

Andy kisses Quynh. 

She knows it might be corny and cliche that she does it on new year, but she does it anyway. She had been wanting to do it for a long time, so now that she is finally ready enough she does it. And she finds herself being extremely happy when she feels Quynh kissing her back.

They take their time. They taste their lips and tongues, and they learn little by little how they move, how they like to be kissed. It goes slow and tender, and then quick and passionate, and then back to the beginning.

When they finally come to a stop because they need to breathe, they stay very close, needing to hang on to the other to know the moment is real. Their noses and fronts are still touching, and all Andy can think is she can feel Quynh’s perfume all around her. 

“That was” Quynh trails off, still being a little stunning at the fact they just had a kiss.

“Amazing” She ends for her.

“Yes, pretty amazing” Quynh agrees, with a soft smile.

“Good, because I think I’m falling in love with you” She confesses.

“I’m falling for you too” Quynh says honestly, caressing one of her cheeks. “Can we kiss again?” She asks.

Andy laughs. Because of course if someone could make her laugh in a situation like this, it would be Quynh.

They’re in the middle of a very good make out, when the fire alarm sounds. If that’s the sign they’re getting it means it’s a bad fire. Time for her and the squad to work.

“I’m sorry” She apologizes for the interruption, because she really doesn’t want this moment to end so soon.

“It’s okay, it’s your work, go” Quynh assures her, pushing her away from her. 

She knows Quynh is right. She needs to go, because fires can’t wait. She starts giving orders to her squad, so they can be ready to go as soon as possible.

“Andy” Quynh calls her, before she can get into the truck.

“Yes?” She asks, turning back to her.

“Be careful” Quynh says.

“Always” She promises.

She knows it’s not exactly a promise she can fulfill, that in her kind of work accidents happen sometimes. But she’s always careful, she can promise that, what she can’t promise it’s that being careful would mean she won’t ever get hurt. 

She gets into the truck and drives her squad to the fire scene. It’s in a dance club. Apparently they were celebrating with flares, that’s what started the fire. This is probably one of the reasons she hates holidays, people never are careful about how to use flares, firecrackers, fireworks. 

The fire is really bad and the club is big, it has three floors. She divides her squad in small groups, so they can take the fire from different angles and start taking out the people who are trapped.

It takes them an hour, the fire still going but they think all the people are out safe. Or at least that's what she thought, when…

“Joe hasn’t come out yet” Nile informs.

“What? Is he still inside?” She asks, taking the information in a bad way.

“Yes, he said that he had found out the reason why the fire wont stop, something about some gas escaping and the controls not working. He was going to close the inlets, but he’s not answering his handie” Nile explains her, sounding very worried. 

“Fuck” She curses, the concern about the situation hiting her hard.

She tries calling him to his handie, but it’s like Nile said, he is not answering. 

She needs to make a decision and she knows which is the right one. She needs to go for him and close the inlets, if not the building could blow up, affecting all the buildings and people around it. 

“I’m going in, handle the front, keep the hoses going from different angles” Andy requests Nile to do.

“But, Andy, shouldn’t i go with you...” Nile starts protesting

“It’s an order Nile” She interrupts her abruptly. “I’m not risking anyone else, okay?” She says, a little more softly now, because she knows the other woman is just concerned.

“Okay cap” Nile agrees.

She puts on her mask and secure her helmet, and picks up her axe. Then she gets inside the club, once again.

It’s a disaster, even worse than before. But that’s what she has been expecting. With the indication Nile had given her before, she finds the control room easy enough. 

She finds Joe there. She checks his vital signs and she feels relieved when she finds he is still breathing and has a pulse. He has some kind of bar nailed in his stomach. She doesn’t take it out, scared that could make him bleed out. 

She finds the gas inlets and sees that Joe had closed some of them. She finishes his works the quickest she can, helping herself with the axe for some of the inlets that are rusty and are hard to handle. 

Once everything is set right, she grabs Joe and takes him on her back. 

She dodges the worst of the fire that is still going and gets to the exit. 

She is crossing the doorway, when part of the building starts collapsing. She jumps on time, throwing Joe and herself the far away she can from the scene. 

When she opens her eyes she sees Joe is already being taken care of by some paramedics. She wants to stand up, but something holds her back. Her arm is trapped by some remains of the building. 

“It’s okay cap, we got you” Jay says, getting her attention.

“You did a great job” Nile adknowledge. 

“Thanks” She appreciates the young woman's compliment. 

Between Dizzy, Jay and Nile, they take the remains of the wall that got her trapped and free her. After that, she is having a ride with the paramedics. She asks to go with Joe, so they take them together. 

Once in the hospital Joe is taken to surgery, while she is taken to x-rays and a general check. They give her fluids and a breathing treatment. They treat some little burns she has in her arms and hands, and a cut she has in the head. A while later they informed her she has a broken arm. After that, they put her arm in a cast, then she goes to the waiting room so she can wait with her squad to get news about Joe. 

“Andy” Quynh calls her.

Fuck. She had forgotten about her. She had forgotten about the kiss, about new year, about Nicky, about everything. She has been so concentrated on her job that she has forgotten that their group should be here for Joe.

“Hey” She greets her, trying to put on a good face.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Quynh asks her, noticing her cast. 

“I’m okay, this us nothing” She answers, trying not to give it too much magnitude. “Joe is in surgery” She informs her and their friends.

They sit down to wait. She wants to stay, keep talking so she can explain things, but she is soon being called by her superior and the police. So, she has to go, they need her statement. 

When they let her go, she finds out Joe is out of surgery and will recover just fine. She was going to check on him immediately, but Quynh’s there, waiting for her.

“Why did you do that?” Quynh requests to know.

“What?” She asks, confused.

“Going back into the building, that’s all your squad has been talking about” Quynh answers, looking angry.

“Because it’s my job” She justifies. “I had to go there to stop the gas and take Joe out” She adds, feeling the need to defend herself.

“I told you to be careful” Quynh reproaches her. 

“I was careful” She assures, fighting back.

“Yes? And how that worked?” Quynh asks bitterly. “Joe’s just had a surgery and you have a broken arm! You could both have died!” She exclaims.

“But we’re here, we didn’t die” She reminds her. “You know what? We’re both tired, and I just can't deal with this right now” She says when she sees the other is ready to keep the fight going.

“Fine, then go” Quyng says, very upset. 

So Andy goes to check Joe and then she goes away from the hospital. She goes to her -their- apartment, takes a shower and sleeps. The days that Joe spends in the hospital until they let him go home, Quynh avoids her and doesn’t talk to her. When she has had enough of the situation and feels it’s getting ridiculous, she confronts her.

“We can’t keep being like this Quynh, talk to me please” She asks her, when they are having breakfast. 

“I don’t know what to say” Quynh says, sounding a little flat. 

“Anything” She says. “Maybe you could start with why you are angry or why you’ve been avoiding me” She suggests.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Quynh asks, still bitter about everything. “I can’t talk to you because I'm angry, because I can't be with a high risk who puts herself in danger all the time. I can’t stand you being the hero and not coming back” She admits abruptly. 

“Okay” She nods. 

That’s what she always feared about relationships. And she is starting to realise that this time it’s going to be the same. Quynh can’t take her job and can’t deal with who she is. So, she needs to leave before her heart breaks even more. She goes to her room and starts packing her things.

“What are you doing?” Quynh asks her, following her. 

“You can’t be with someone who is a high risk even though I’m not, and I can’t be with someone who doesn’t accept me as I am, so it’s better for both that I just move out” She expresses her feelings, a little resentful. 

“Andy…” Quynh starts protesting.

“No!” She shuts her up. “I’m a firefighter and I’m sorry if you don’t like that, but that is who I am. I’m not gonna change it, not for you, not for anyone” She says angrily.

Andy gives Quynh her keys and then it’s out of the door. She puts her bags and boxes in her car and just drives. She ends up going to Lykon’s place. He lets her stay with him. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to go back to live with Quynh?” Lykon asks her a couple of days later.

“Yes” She answers. “She doesn’t want me anyway” She says quietly, because it hurts to say it out loud. 

“I think it is rather the opposite, I think she not only wants you, she loves you. I think she fighted you because she is scared of losing you” He tells her his opinion.

“Hey, you are supposed to be on my side” She protests.

“I’m always on your side” He assures her. “That’s why I’m telling you this. If you love her, don’t run like you always do. Talk to her, make things right. Don’t let your relationship just be ruined for a fight you had when you were both angry and worried” He advises and leaves her having her tea in peace.

Could he be right? 

Could she be running? And could Quynh be scared? Could it be that both were scared of losing each other so they were just fighting and letting the other go before they had the chance to lose each other?

She knows that she loves Quynh.

But what about Quynh? Does she love her back? 


	19. Chapter 19

Quynh it’s heartbroken. 

Everything she had said to Andy was true. She can’t do it, she can’t be with someone who is a high risk, who would risk everything without thinking about the consequences. She can’t be the one left behind just waiting for the day everything turns wrong and her life is over.

But she wasn’t expecting Andy to leave. She was hoping she would fight back. But she didn’t, she gave up and just left… And that hurts. Does she really mean so little to her? 

“Are you okay?” Joe asks her one day, when they meet to have lunch together.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” She asks back.

“I’m okay” He assures her. “You on the contrary my friend, look sad” He tells her honestly, because he is worried.

“Yes, it's just Andy… you know” She barely says, because she doesn’t know how to talk about this topic with him. 

Quynh knows her friends keep seeing her. They still work together and they have become good friends, they hang out sometimes. It hurts, but it’s fair. She doesn’t want them to stop being friends just because of her.

“She saved me that day” Joe says, bringing her attention back to the present.

“I know” She assures. She feels sad and guilty about that, she never thanked her for saving one of her best friends.

“She misses you too” Joe tells her.

“Well, she’s the one who left” She says, feeling hurt about that.

“And you are the one who told her you can’t be with a firefighter” Joe states, kinda challenging her. “So, how does it work for you to be friends with Nile and me?” He asks curiously.

“It’s different,” She argues. “She is a high risk” She says, more angry than she intended too.

“High risk?” Joe asks, confused.

He really looks confused and Quynh doesn’t understand why. He works with her, he should understand. But he is her friend, and if he is really confused then she is going to be patient and explain him. 

So, Quynh tells him everything. She tells him how she heard the squad talking about the accident and then talking about a lot of things Andy had done since she has been a firefighter in their station. 

When she finishes her story, she hopes to find understandment in Joe. But instead she finds he is looking at her surprised and amused about the situation.

“What?” She asks, when she can’t take his intensity no more.

“You got it all wrong” Joe tells her. “Andy is not a high risk. She is good at her job, she follows rules and protocols, she always plans how to intervene on a scene so we can be prepared.” He simply explains. 

“But Dizzy and Jay…” She starts saying.

“They admire her too much, so they put her in the hero category, they exaggerate” Joe interrupts her. “I’ve never seen someone think the way Andy does about fires, she takes all the options and always chooses the safer one for everyone. She is never happy in high risk situations. She only risks her life when there is no other option, when there is a death or live situation” He describes his captain with admiration, sounding proud but realistic at the same time.

“What about her < I go first > moto?” She asks, remembering some of the things she has heard.

“Oh yes, she likes to be the one who goes first and the last to leave, but that is just she being her protective self.” He answers her. 

After that, they stay silent. Quynh it’s starting to assimilate what she just has learned. It all starts hitting her slowly. How everything went wrong because of a misunderstanding. And fuck if it hurts, it hurts even more. 

Yes, Quynh is relieved to know the woman she is in love with it’s not a high risk with a death wish. But she is also sad and disappointed, because she let her go… because she didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt, a chance to explain herself.

“Did you tell her you love her? That it was that, that got you so scared?” Joe asks. 

“No” She answers. 

“Maybe you should” He advises.

And Quynh knows he is right. In some part of herself she knows it. 

She should tell her she loves her. And she should apologize. And she just should be honest. 

But she doesn’t. Quynh is not sure why, but there is something holding her back. And days keep passing, and the more time passes it gets harder. 

And that is how three months passes without seeing her. 

It’s finally time for Joe’s and Nicky’s wedding. Quynh is Nicky’s maid of honor and Andy is Joe’s. She is not sure if she is ready to see the other woman, but for her friends she would make the effort. 

Quynh puts on her red dress, she does her make up, and then goes to help Nicky get ready. 

The ceremony is beautiful. Joe and Nicky are both handsome and they are so happy it’s just exciting and contagious. 

Quynh tries not to pay attention to Andy, or at least look like she doesn’t. She is wearing a black suit that is so very distracting. She is so beautiful and breathtaking, and she is not sure how she is not running to her and just kisses her senseless until they forgive each other. 

The party is fun and the food is delicious. Quynh doesn’t know if she should be happy or disappointed that Andy is at a different table. But all things considered, she can’t blame Joe and Nicky for that choice after they have been avoiding each other for three months. 

So, Quynh keeps trying. She dances and talks with her friends, and doesn't pay attention to Andy. Not at all. 

When it’s time for the toast Andy makes a speech. She does it half in arabic and half in italian. And Quynh has to admit it turns her on a little, she always finds hot when Andy speaks in different languages. She is sure half of the guests can’t understand anything she says, just like her. But Joe and Nicky and their families do, and that is enough. They laugh with her and when it finishes they hug her. 

Quynh needs to find a way to avoid her the rest of the night, if not she is gonna do something stupid like shout her “i love you” in the face.

But it seems Andy has other ideas, because she is suddenly crossing the dance floor and coming directly to her. Quynh could run, but she doesn’t. She stays frozen, in place, until the other is standing right in front of her.

“I’m sorry for everything, for running away.” Andy apologizes. “I was scared of losing you, so I ran before it could happen.” She explains calmly.

Andy looks so sad about it, that all she can think about is hugging her. But Quynh is not sure it would be welcome. She doesn’t even have the courage to grab one of her hands. And it’s sad, because before their fight they have always been comfortable about personal contact with each other. 

“I was scared too, so I pushed you away” She admits. “I’m sorry for judging you about the way you work, I should have asked first instead of believing the worst” She says, being now her turn to apologize.

“We were both wrong” Andy kinda concludes.

“Yes” She agrees. 

“I have abandonment issues” Andy admits.

“And I have trust issues” She feels the need to confess. 

“What a pair we are” Andy says. 

And Quynh laughs. If someone could make her laugh in a situation like this, where they are just talking about their misseries, of course that would be Andy. The dry humor of the other woman always makes her laugh. And suddenly she feels sad again, because she has missed her. 

“Can we start over?” She requests.

“We can” Andy agrees. “But if we are going to start over I need to say something first” She adds, looking at her thoughtful.

“If it is about you being a firefighter, you don’t need to. I promise I’m okay with it... “ She starts saying, panicking a little.

“It’s not that” Andy assures her, interrupting her sort of apology.

“Okay” She says, relieved that the other is not holding grudges about that. “Then what?” She asks curiously. 

“ Tôi yêu bạn” Andy tells her she is in love with her it vietnamese. 

“Really?” She asks, happily surprised.

“Yes” Andy nods.

“Good” She accepts with a big smile. “Я теж закоханий у тебе” She says she is in love with her too in ukrainian. 

“Since when do you know how to speak ukrainian?” Andy asks, astonish.

“I don’t” She answers. “I just learned some lines for special moments” She confesses. 

“Is this one of those moments?” Andy requests to know, invading her personal space.

“It is” She declares. 

Quynh is not sure what Andy’s going to say next, so before anything can come out of her mouth, she kisses her. She can tell Andy is surprised because it takes her some seconds to react and kiss her back. But once she does, the kiss becomes perfect. They put all their emotions on it and let thersevels show their love. It feels like coming back home.

“So, do you want to be my roommate again?” She asks her, as they cut the kiss to breath. 

“Only if this time we get to share the bed” Andy answers her, with a playful smile.

She laughs at that and kisses her again.

_ The end. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tôi yêu bạn: I love you.
> 
> Я теж закоханий у тебе: I'm in love with you too.
> 
> ____
> 
> Thank you for all the kudos and comments, I hope those who read this story enjoyed it ♥

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language so be patient with me please.
> 
> If you want to know more about this story you can do it here: https://cryhardanddanceharder.tumblr.com/post/631565683497549825/cryhardanddanceharder-i-cant-stop-thinking


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